Fingers Crossed
by tesselation
Summary: Coming to the island for the job of a lifetime, Erin is ready to throw herself into the experience. When the novelty of being a dino vet wears off, she turns her attention to building relationships with her colleagues and making the most of her time in the park. Fingers crossed nothing embarrassing happens...
1. Prologue

I'm resurrecting this account from the dead and starting with a fresh story. I may be a bit rusty at this whole writing thing...

This story is mostly meant to be light-hearted summer fun. Everything takes place well before the events of the movie.

* * *

Heat and sun exposure were nothing new. Farmer tans and sweat stains had long since become badges of honor, the marks of a long day's work. After so much time outdoors, you learn to avoid nasty things like dehydration and sunburns. You drink a ton of water, you apply sunscreen religiously unless you want to look like an old leather shoe in ten years; you buy and wear UV protected clothing, none of that cotton t-shirt shit. You wear hats on the daily, you buy special lip balm with SPF 30. You ditch the dainty lady deodorant for men's deodorant, which will be sweated off by mid-afternoon.

But there's only so much you can buy to prepare your body for working in intense heat. It takes acclimation. Adapt to survive, as you could say.

Erin felt prepared enough for the heat. She grew up in Texas, worked in places like Arizona and Africa. But for someone so prepared, she forgot to factor in the intense Central American humidity.

In the beginning, she sweated far more than usual, which in turn washed off sunscreen and dehydrated her. The first few weeks on the island, Erin sported a fresh sunburn while sluggishly trying to keep up with the rest of the park staff who had already acclimated to the climate.

Almost two months into the job, and Erin was almost completely adapted to Isla Nublar's climate. For the most part, at least. She still wasn't a fan of the humidity.

However, she was a fan of the job. Working at Jurassic World had been a long shot. Months ago, she heard through the grapevine of the zoological community that there would be staff openings. A few phone calls, emails, and Skype interviews later, Erin had found herself on the shortlist of potential new candidates. After an extensive background check and many letters of referral, Erin was flown in for an in-depth interview, a psychological examination, and a tour of the veterinary facilities. Two weeks after she was sent back home, she received an official offer and contract.

Getting ready to move to the island didn't take much preparation. Erin was up to date on all of her shots, she already had the necessary gear and equipment, including appropriate clothing. She was glad her new job didn't require much of a uniform, since she worked in the field for the most part.

Erin didn't have much by way of personal items, seeing as she lived in cabins and tents for the past two years. When she arrived on Isla Nublar, she had three bags- her trusty sky blue pack that had been a graduation gift to herself containing all of her clothes, a bumper sticker covered trunk that had seen her through four years of summer camp, all of undergrad and vet school, and several years in the field, and a messenger bag holding her electronics and corresponding cables.

She hadn't been entirely sure what to expect her living situation on the island to be like, but when she was shown to her small apartment, she thought that perhaps she had been taken to the wrong place. The apartment was nothing special, but Erin was amazed at the powerful air conditioning, full kitchen with working appliances (and a microwave!), a TV with cable and excellent wifi, and a beautiful bathroom including a shower/bathtub combo. Erin couldn't remember the last time she had taken a bath, much less seen a bathtub in person. After unpacking her few belongings, it still looked like nobody lived in the apartment. Erin hoped she would slowly start to accumulate some decorations.

But all of that was two months ago, and if it weren't for the mess of papers and books in the living area, the pile of dirty dishes in the sink in the kitchen, and the pile of dirty clothes in the bathroom, the apartment was still bare and empty. Which was fine; Erin either wasn't home or was too busy sleeping or studying up to even notice.

Jurassic World was an incredible feat of human arrogance, Erin thought. But they paid incredibly well, she still had student loan debt, she got amazing benefits, she got free room and board, having the park on her resume almost guaranteed her work for the rest of her life, the people she worked with her talented professionals, and she was working with _dinosaurs_. So far the only downside to the job was the humidity, and Erin was determined to get used to it.

Erin didn't really have a specific job title or post. The ID clipped to her shirt pocket only showed her photo, a Jurassic World logo, and the word "veterinarian" under her name. So far, she was just a floater. There was a well-staffed veterinarian station close to the Creation Lab, but it was unrealistic to bring in dinosaurs whenever something seemed off. And for the most part, the dinosaurs didn't need that kind of care. The island was stocked with healthy herds.

Erin's job mostly consisted of riding around the park, observing and collecting data. Though the park had been open for going on ten years, these were still new animals. People didn't know that much about them, apart from the obvious. Only so much information can be gathered from fossil records, and caring for animals was a lot more complicated than knowing what they liked to eat.

Keeping detailed documentation and records on the animals, including behaviors, was a large and necessary part of the job, but a boring one as well.

Apart from certain attractions, most of the park operated very similarly to a normal game reserve. Herds of animals shared their space and lived their lives as close to how they would have 65 million years ago. Except unlike a normal reserve, or how life would have been when dinosaurs ruled the earth, there were no natural predators or diseases. The carnivores were kept separate from everything else, for obvious safety reasons. There were no injuries or emergencies to take care of. Every once in a while there would be a territorial scuffle, but that was the extent of the excitement.

Taking samples and keeping records was all well and good, and Erin was learning so much. She was grateful for the job, and she did enjoy it. But every once in a while she did get the feeling that for living on an island full of dinosaurs, her life was getting pretty dull.


	2. One

And here's the first chapter! Please be kind in the reviews, I'm pretty rusty at writing.

I'll be ending each chapter with a relevant song. I really enjoyed doing that back in my True Blood days.

* * *

In a normal situation, Wednesday nights would seem like an odd day of the week to go out. But on the island, Wednesdays were the slowest day of the week. Most visitors came for the weekends, arriving on Thursdays or Fridays, and leaving Mondays or Tuesdays. Leaving Wednesdays as the catch up day for the staff.

Erin knew that on Wednesday nights, the younger staff members, specifically those who worked directly with the animals, would flock to the Margaritaville on the main strip to drink, hang out, and let off steam.

The first Wednesday on the island, Erin still didn't know too many people whom she felt comfortable going out with, and she was far too exhausted from the new job to even consider it. Every Wednesday night after that, she had been stuck out in the field or hurrying to get in reports on time.

But not tonight. Tonight, Erin wasn't in the field, all of her reports were done, and it had been a slow day, leaving her with an excess of energy. It had been two and a half months since she had done anything even remotely fun.

There was one other girl around her age that Erin knew from work that went out on Wednesday nights almost religiously. Emily was an energetic vet tech in her early twenties. She had just finished her undergrad and was on the island earning work experience before applying to grad schools. Whenever she was paired with Erin, the two always ended up comparing college stories.

"I can't wait to see Emily in action tonight," Erin said excitedly as she dumped her kit in the back of the Jeep.

"Are you kidding? I can't wait to see you let loose. I can't believe it's taken this long to get you to come out," Emily replied as she finished packing up their collected dung samples.

"I think we especially earned a round of margs after this," Erin said as she took the case of samples from Emily and placed them into the trunk next to her kit. She grabbed her lime green water bottle and handed Emily her neon pink bottle.

"I wish this was a strawberry margarita so bad," Emily whined as she took the bottle and took a long sip of the now warm water.

"First round on me," Erin offered, then gulped down the rest of the warm water in her bottle quickly.

"Bless you. Then shots on me," Emily said excitedly, throwing her pink bottle back into the trunk. "I hope they play good music tonight!"

"I'm so not into dancing," Erin laughed as she climbed behind the wheel of the Jeep.

"What, are you into bar games?" Emily asked. Erin turned to her with a smirk as she started the car and immediately blasted the AC. She waited for the car to start blowing cold air before moving.

"Nothing brings me greater joy than beating some smug guy at pool," Erin explained.

"I bet your such a pool shark." The two girls laughed and soon began the long drive back to the medical compound.

The sun was starting to set as they left the field, and the drive would take almost an hour. By the time the girls would arrive back at base, it would already be fairly late, not leaving much time to shower or change. But Emily assured Erin that everyone else that would be there would also be coming straight from work.

The prospect of a cold drink, a plate of nachos, and finally meeting some new people on the island had Erin more than excited for the night.

As soon as they were back to the main part of the island, Emily checked the Jeep back into the garage, and Erin turned in the samples to the lab. They met back up at the entrance to the Innovation Center and walked to Margaritaville together.

By the time they got there, a few large groups had already gathered, with even more people coming in after them.

Emily grabbed a table in the center of the room, while Erin made good on her promise and went to the bar for the first round of margaritas and to place an order for a place of nachos.

Emily and Erin were done with their drinks before the nachos even arrived, and as soon as the waiter dropped them off, they ordered another round, plus two tequila shots.

Erin was used to drinking, and now that she was finally eating something, she wasn't worried about her consumption. She was in a good mood and feeling even friendlier than usual, which came in handy as Emily introduced her to people. It seemed like she knew everyone, which wasn't that farfetched. Emily was a very outgoing and fun person, and Erin thought she could probably make friends with anyone, anywhere.

By 11, the Margaritaville was packed full of Jurassic World staff. The bar was loud from laughter, loud groups, and to Emily's disgust, a mix of hits from the 90s.

Erin attempted to teach Emily the finer points of a good pool game, but she just wasn't in the mood to learn technique and strategy. After a few solid tries, Emily resorted to just hitting the balls randomly, making her and Erin laugh like teenagers.

Emily hit the cue ball straight into the pocket and jumped up and down cheering, causing Erin to start laughing hysterically. The laughter was contagious, and soon the pair were hanging onto each other, laughing.

"Are you two done here, or do we have to keep watching this pathetic display before its our turn?" a gruff voice interrupted the girls' laughter. Emily and Erin looked across the table to see a group of three men watching them, unamused by their antics.

Emily stuck her tongue out at the three men. "Bite me," she antagonized.

"With pleasure," the man said with a wink. Emily shot him the finger.

"Quit being a dick, Eric," one of the rude guy's friends said, hitting his arm with the back of his hand. The guy, Eric, rolled his eyes.

Erin had never seen these three before, but that wasn't much of a surprise. She didn't know most of the people there that night. But they were all dressed similarly to her and Emily, meaning they worked in the field. The three were tall and rugged looking. Honestly, they looked like they had been transported to the bar form an REI catalog.

Eric was good looking enough, but he really did seem like a dick. The guy that had called him out, now he was hot. He wore a bored expression, waiting for the pool table to free up. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, showing off strong hands and forearms. His hair was short, and his face was scruffy. Rugged, indeed. The third man was busy downing the rest of his beer, not at all interested in what was going on. He had dark skin, a bald head, and very capable looking hands.

"You're going to play with three people?" Erin asked innocently, seeing an opportunity for some fun.

"We could join you," Emily said, catching on to what Erin had in mind.

"Then we would have five people, doll," Eric shot back, though his demeanor had changed entirely. Suddenly he and Emily were staring each other down hungrily.

"Well, I'm a great cheer leader," Emily laughed flirtatiously. Erin rolled her eyes and pulled away from her, going to rack the balls.

"I bet you are, beautiful," Eric winked. "Dibs on Barry!" he then suddenly shouted as an afterthought. The rugged handsome man groaned.

"That's not fair, man!" he complained. Either the third man, Barry, was really good, or he was upset at having to partner with Erin.

"It really isn't. They won't know what hit 'em," Erin retorted, pushing Rugged-Handsome out of the way so she cold finish racking the balls. He eyed her warily as she pushed a stick into his chest. He exchanged a look with Barry. Clearly, this wasn't his idea of fun.

"You know how to play?" he asked her hopefully. Unable to think of a clever response, Erin winked. "Yall break," he said, stepping out of the way for Eric to start the game. After he broke, Rugged-Handsome stepped out of the way for Erin to go first.

"Ladies first," he said, making a sweeping gesture towards the table. She grinned and eyed the table for a good shot to take. She took her time lining up her shot, to which Eric and Emily complained. Barely two minutes together and they were already more than friendly together. Erin ignored them as she took her shot and sank the ball into a pocket. Emily cheered while the guys watched on in stunned silence.

Erin took her second shot but missed. She knew the guys had underestimated her ability, based on how she was acting with Emily when they first arrived at the table.

Barry swore as he circled the table to find a decent shot to take.

"Erin, by the way. I'll be carrying this team," she said, sticking her hand out to Rugged-Handsome, emboldened by the alcohol and the successful shot.

"Oh is that how it is?" Rugged-Handsome chuckled. Erin grinned up at him confidently. "I'm Owen," he added as he shook her hand.

After Barry took his shot and missed, Emily grabbed the nearest waitress and ordered a round of tequila shots for the group. By the time the shots arrived, Owen and Erin had sunk two more shots, while Eric had sunk one.

Emily grabbed two shots from the tray, handing one to Eric. They linked their arms to take their shots. Barry rolled his eyes and quickly tossed his back and set the empty glass back on the tray. Erin reached across the pool table for the remaining two shots and handed one to Owen. She raised hers in the air, waiting for Owen to clink his glass against hers. "To victory!" she toasted. Owen smiled, tapped his shot against hers, and they both tapped the glasses against the table before downing the them.

By the end of the game, the group took two more shots together. Barry declared Erin and Owen the winners and wandered off to a different group of people. Eric and Emily were paying a lot of attention to each other, and Erin could see where their night was going.

"Another round? Solo this time?" Owen asked, racking the balls back up to start a new game.

"Only if you don't mind losing," Erin laughed. He smirked at her from across the table as he picked his stick back up. They held each other's gaze for a few extended seconds, challenging each other. Emily interrupted by grabbing Erin by the shoulder, demanding her attention.

"Eric's gonna show me how to play darts!" she giggled, leaning into Erin.

"Is that such a good idea? They're pointy!" Erin teased, giggling with her. Emily shrugged and laughed again as Eric grabbed her hand and started to pull her away. Emily waved and winked at Erin, letting him lead her off.

"Well that's predictable," Owen chuckled, turning his attention back to the game. Erin watched him as he broke. More specifically, she watched as his tight shirt stretched across his frame as he bent over the table and stretched his long arms. She paid close attention to how his large hands gripped the stick. Before she knew it, his turn was over.

The waitress made her way back over as Erin stepped up to the table.

"Another round you guys?" she asked. Erin and Owen looked at each other expectantly, waiting for the other to make the decision. Owen broke their eye contact first, turning back to the waitress.

"Yeah, another round," he answered the waitress. Erin grinned at him.

"Tequila guy, huh?" she asked as she bent over the table. She glanced up in time to see him watch how the movement caused her shirt to pull up, exposing her lower back. She smirked satisfactorily to herself. She took her shot, missing the pocket by an inch.

"There's nothing like it," Owen answered, moving to cross to the other side of the table. As he walked past her, Erin felt his hand ghost across her back. As he positioned himself for his shot, Erin walked up next to him to watch his play. He missed, too.

"You're not very good," Erin laughed, grinning up at him. She was fairly tall, but he was pleasantly taller than her. As a tall girl, she really appreciated when guys were decently taller than her.

"Or you're cheatin'," he accused with a smirk. Erin rolled her eyes playfully.

"I would only cheat if I was afraid of losing," she taunted. Owen opened his mouth to retort when the waitress came by and dropped off two more shots of tequila.

"What are we cheers-ing to?" Owen asked as he grabbed his shot and handed the second one to Erin.

"To victory!" Erin shouted, quickly tapping her shot against Owen's, then the pool table, and then gulped it down quickly. The more shots she drank, the less they burned on their way down. Owen quickly tossed his shot back to catch up to Erin, who was already moving to line up her next shot.

This game lasted much longer than the first. Erin and Owen spent much more time taunting and teasing between each shot, and missed more shots than they normally would have. There was also a lot of flirtatious touching. His hand on the small of her back, or her shoulder close to her neck. Her hand on his arm, or at his hip.

Erin purposefully bumped her hip against his a few times throughout the game, and every time she passed by him to line up a shot, she made sure their bodies made some sort of contact. And best of all, she could tell that he was doing the same thing.

After Erin sank the last shot, winning the game, the pair abandoned the pool table for a tall table in the corner. They ordered a couple of beers and chatted. The light conversation mostly consisted of flirtatious banter and teasing.

It was 1:30 in the morning, and Erin was definitely drunk. She had hit the sweet spot; she wasn't sloppy or incoherent, she was loose and having a good time flirting heavily with a handsome new person.

Before long, they had inched their stools closer to each other. Owen had an arm draped across her shoulders, and she had her hands resting on his knees.

Without even realizing it, the mood shifted and their faces were inches apart, and suddenly they were kissing in the corner of the crowded Margartaville.

Owen had his tongue in Erin's mouth when all of the lights were suddenly turned on and the batenders were shouting for last calls.

Erin pulled away, blinking rapidly from the drastic change in lighting, and wiped her mouth.

Emily rushed over, bumping into the table, with Eric in tow before either Owen or Erin could say anything to each other.

"Erin have you seen my phone?" Emily asked, grabbing Erin's hand and attention.

"Um, no," Erin answered after a second of thought. Emily sighed dramatically.

"I'm gonna go close the tab," Owen said before standing and pushing his way towards the bar. Emily pulled a pen from her pocket and started writing her phone number on a napkin, handing it to Eric.

"Thanks babe, I'll call ya," Eric said, taking the napkin from Emily and sliding it into his front pants pocket. He kissed her quickly and went to stand next to Owen at the bar to pay his own tab.

"Take me home so I don't get lost?" Emily grabbed Erin's hands, smiling sweetly.

Erin laughed and slid off her stool, swinging an arm around Emily's shoulders.

"Sure. Gotta make sure my girl gets into bed safe," Erin laughed, leading Emily out of the bar.

"Did you have a tab?" Emily asked.

"Nah, cash," Erin answered simply as they exited the building and started their walk up Main Street.

On the way back to the staff quarters, Emily told Erin all about Eric. It wasn't until they were in the elevator that Emily asked Erin about who she had been publicly making out with that Erin realized she had left the bar without saying goodbye, or anything.

"Oh no! I just left him," Erin laughed as she realized her mistake.

"Aw! Poor fella," Emily giggled.

"Fuck me, he was hot, too!" Erin whined.

"I'm sure you'll see him again. Hopefully you didn't break his heart," Emily teased as the pair approached her room. "Do I really have to be in at 8 tomorrow?"

"Bright eyes and… what is it? Tails, or something…"

"Bushy tailed!" Emily supplied.

"Yes! That! Drink lots of water and be that at 8 tomorrow… or I guess today," Erin finished. Emily groaned, then unlocked her apartment door and left Erin alone in the hall. On her way up to her own apartment, she wondered if and when she would see Owen again, how many people saw the new girl publicly make out with someone, and how awful she was going to feel when she woke up in a few hours.

* * *

"Fingers Crossed" by COINS


	3. Two

Holy hell this is a long chapter. I probably should have mentioned earlier that this story contains profanity. I'm a big fan of it.

* * *

Waking up and getting ready for the day was a difficult task for Erin after her night out. The closer she got to 30, the rougher her hangovers got. After a quick shower, Erin pulled on cuffed khaki shorts, thick socks and her work boots, her comfiest sports bra, and a loose slate blue button up. She knew better than to bother with makeup, and honestly couldn't remember the last time she had worn any. On her way out the door, Erin grabbed her backpack and wide brimmed hat, and slipped a hair tie onto her wrist to tie her hair up after it had air-dried.

She stopped at the staff cafeteria for her go-to hangover breakfast of watermelon chunks and a blueberry muffin. The water content of the melon helped her dehydration, and the muffin soothed her stomach. On the way out of the cafeteria, she filled up her lime green water bottle and went straight to the lab, hoping Emily had remembered to set her alarm, or wasn't going to call in sick.

Once at the lab, Erin got to work on reports while waiting for the lab reports on the samples she had turned in the night before to be ready. She was torn between hoping the results would take a long time to be ready, and the results being done as soon as possible. If they took a long time, she could spend even more precious time indoors, in the air conditioning. But if they took a long time, it would delay the rest of her schedule, meaning she would get home even later.

Only thirty minutes late, Emily walked into the empty workroom at 8:30, hair a mess and still wearing sunglasses.

"Look who decided to show up," Erin laughed. She had been forcing herself to drink water, and was already on her second refill of her bottle. She was already feeling better. Emily on the other hand, looked like death warmed up.

"Wednesday nights, man," was all Emily could manage to say as she dropped down on a stool across the workbench from Erin. "Labs in yet?"

"They said hopefully around 9," Erin answered. She continued on with her paperwork as Emily scrolled through her phone.

"By the way, that guy from last night texted me this morning," Emily said after almost five minutes of silence, as if she had just remembered.

"No shit," Erin laughed. In her experience, it was a 50/50 chance of the guy from the bar texting the next day, if at all.

"Yeah, he's actually pretty cool. I'm stalking him online right now," Emily answered.

"You're already friends with him on Facebook and stuff?" Erin asked, impressed.

"Nah, he just has _no_ privacy settings," Emily explained. "Where did you do undergrad again?"

"UT Austin, why?" Erin answered.

"Oh, never mind. He went to Texas Tech," Emily said as she continued to scroll through what Erin assumed was his online profiles.

"Gross," Erin laughed.

After a little while longer, Erin checked her watch to see that it was 9:03 and sent Emily to the lab to check to see if their results were in. She came back to the workroom ten minutes later with a folder.

"You're going to hate me, but I need you to file these and put them in the database," Erin said, taking the folder from Emily's hands, switching into work mode.

"Fine by me. I'd much rather sit in the office in the AC all day than be in the sun today," Emily replied.

"I had a feeling," Erin smirked. She parted ways with the vet tech, heading off to make her rounds as Emily went in the opposite direction towards the offices.

* * *

A few more weeks had gone by since Erin's first Margaritaville outing. Each Wednesday night, Erin found herself either still out in the field, or holed up in a workroom trying to finish paperwork. Emily hadn't been around much, either. She was technically just an intern, and where she worked wasn't up to Erin. They texted constantly, but Emily couldn't ever manage to get Erin to come out with her.

It was Wednesday again, but it didn't look like Erin would be making it to the bar. She would be lucky if she was even back at base before dark. The labs had issued a new set of vaccines and supplements to administer, and Erin had been handed a clipboard outlining all the stops she had to make that day, and the keys to a Jeep with a trunk full of coolers containing the new meds.

The list of paddocks and animals she had to visit was long, and there were some animals on it that she had never worked with, or even seen, before. The list had her making a wide loop around the island, going through the Cretaceous Cruise area, Triceratops Territory, Tyrannosaurus Rex Kingdom, and a few paddocks off limits to guests, including some adolescent baryonyx and the raptors.

Getting through all of the triceratops was a team effort. The large but gentle creatures didn't mind the shots from the long, scary looking syringes, but there was only one Erin and many, many triceratops. A few handlers had to help Erin, or else she would have spent all day there going through each animal.

The Cretaceous cruise was a similar experience, but with even more animals. Luckily, due to the size of the attraction and the sheer number of animals, there were plenty of qualified handlers to help Erin.

The T. rex was just far too large, and far too dangerous for anyone to give it a shot. There was no way to contain the animal, but she had her own special treatment. The lab had given Erin a series of syringes full of the T. rex supplements, meant for normal animals. Behind the scenes of the attraction was a holding pen for goats used during feeding demonstrations. She the goat meant for the 2 o'clock feeding and left to go to the next animal on the list.

Erin was done with all of the animals part of public attractions. Attraction attendance spike in the early afternoon, so getting everything done in the morning meant getting to avoid guests, and getting out of the direct sun before the temperature peaked for the day.

The baryonyx and velociraptors were held in secure paddocks at their own compounds, meaning Erin wouldn't be out in the Valley in the full sun.

For adolescents, the baryonyx were quite a bit bigger than Erin expected them to be. Full grown adults reached about 30 feet, and the three animals in the paddock were all 18 to 20 feet. They had outgrown their means of containment, meaning she had to use the same treatment used for the T. rex.

Finally, at 3:30, there was only one cooler left in the back of the Jeep. Maybe if she was lucky, she really would get to go out that night. After a long nap, though.

The drive out to the raptor paddock was long. They were very isolated, but the road was scenic.

After a bend, the lush tropical foliage gave way to a compound set up around a paddock with high walls. There were several buildings clad in corrugated metal, quite a few pick-up trucks and Jeeps covered in dirt, and a few men walking around, from one building to another.

Erin parked her Jeep at the end of the row of other Jurassic World vehicles. Before getting out, she gulped down what was left of the water in her bottle. She then grabbed her clipboard, turned off the Jeep, and stepped out. She opened up the trunk, swung her kit over her shoulder, and pulled out the last cooler. After slamming the door down, Erin turned to look at the compound, wondering where to go to get started. She had had the same problem at all of the other paddocks, too. In the areas restricted to guests, things weren't marked quite as well.

At the entrance to what seemed like a barn stood a group of three men watching her, as another man made his way over towards Erin.

"Can I help you?" he called as he and Erin walked towards each other.

"Just your friendly neighborhood drug peddler," Erin answered, holding up the cooler stamped with the Jurassic World logo on the side and sealed with yellow security tape.

"Oh yeah, heard we were getting some new sups," the man laughed, leading Erin over towards the paddock.

She had heard that the raptor paddock actually had containment equipment, which would make the whole process quick and easy.

"We're in the middle of some drills, but I'll make sure we get 'em done right after," the man said, moving to take the cooler from Erin. Confused, Erin turned away from him, moving the cooler out of his reach. She vaguely registered the sounds of whistles and a clicking noise, followed by the distinctive snorts of frustrated animals.

"They told me you guys don't have any vet handlers out here," Erin said, holding up the clipboard that had been turned to the page detailing the raptor regimen.

"Don't need 'em," he answered, going to take the cooler again. Erin turned away from him again.

"Who's in charge out here?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at the man.

"Grady, but he's busy. Just give me that and I'll tell him A-S-A-P," he said after a frustrated sigh.

"I can wait," Erin told him. She wasn't going to just leave the supplements and leave. She didn't know how long it would take these guys to get around to administering them, and she didn't trust that they would do it correctly.

The man rolled his eyes and huffed, but finally held his hands up in surrender. "Fine, whatever."

Erin smiled at him smugly as he walked off to rejoin his colleagues at the barn who had been watching them the whole time.

Knowing it would probably take a while, Erin placed the cooler on the ground, dropped her kit next to it, and sat atop the cooler. She had sat next to the double gated entrance of the paddock, she realized. However, she couldn't really see inside of it very well. The vegetation was lush, blocking her view. But she had other means of entertainment. She felt her phone buzz a lot throughout the day, and this was her first chance to finally check it.

She had a few notifications that some lab work she had been waiting on was finished and ready for pickup, some boring looking emails that looked like they could wait, and about ten texts from Emily.

Even though she was almost 6 years younger than her, Emily was definitely Erin's closest friend on the island. She wasn't looking forward to the end of the vet tech's internship when she would leave the island to start graduate school.

 _10:14 AM: It's my most favorite day of the week! Please tell me you're coming out tonight!_

 _10:16 AM: Eric and I will be at margsville waiting for you!_

 _11:01 AM: I am sooo bored.. Dr Stovall is the human equivalent of drier lint_

 _11:22 AM: How's vax day? You need to check your phone more often._

 _12:43 PM: What kind of freak puts cheese in their salad? SERIOUSLY Jurassic World?_

 _12:45 PM: SCORE ONE FOR EM! The caf has pudding today :]_

 _12:47 PM: I just saw the hottest guy going to town on some pudding. Do you think Eric would mind if I made out with pudding guy in a broom closet ASAP?_

 _12:49 PM: Speaking of Eric, and speaking of making out with people, and speaking of you coming out tonight, have you talked to that hottie with the arms?_

 _12:50 PM: You know Eric works with him? Say the word and I can make shit happen!_

 _12:51 PM: You're probably going to see him anyway when you're at the raptor pads. AWKS!_

As soon as Erin read Emily's last text, her head shot up and she searched the surrounding area, hoping Emily was wrong. She wasn't a stranger to running into old hookups. She could handle it pretty gracefully. But she had never experienced that at work.

With no sign of Owen, Erin put her attention back on her phone.

' _If I see him I'm going to shove a needle IN MY EYE. Ughhh,'_ Erin texted Emily back, exaggerating immensely. Barely a minute later, Erin's phone buzzed from a new message.

 _3:44 PM: Whyyyy? He was CUT. Maybe he'll be up for a round two._

Erin rolled her eyes. Of course She expected Emily to say something like that.

' _Gross. I'm at work ya perv,'_ Erin sent back. Almost immediately, Emily texted back about six winky faces and nothing else. Erin rolled her eyes again, and let the conversation drop. She opened up her email and started sifting through the junk and the one she should probably at least read.

At 4 o'clock, Erin noticed the man from before start to make his way across the lot, heading to the left of Erin. On her way in, Erin took note of a metal staircase leading up to a catwalk that was out of her view due to the curve of the paddock. She could hear the man walk up the metal steps, though. Five minutes later, she heard several sets of footsteps descending the staircase. She put her phone back into her pocket and looked up, waiting for the man and whoever was following him to come into view. She noticed the sounds of the drills had stopped, and assumed that they were finally ready for her.

Erin stood as three men rounded the corner. The one she spoke to earlier peeled off from the other two, jogging back to the barn, leaving who Erin finally recognized as Barry and Owen. She registered their surprised expressions as they approached her, taking note of the cooler at her feet.

"Well, long time, no see!" Barry laughed, patting a confused looking Owen on the shoulder. He then moved to shake Erin's hand.

"Um, yeah. You too," Erin smiled at him awkwardly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a group of men coming their way.

"You got a special delivery for us?" Owen asked, nodding towards the cooler.

"Jurassic World's finest," Erin replied with a friendly smile. She was determined to not let things get awkward. Barry watched the two interact with interest apparent on his face, as the group of men entered the first gate to the paddock to start getting the four raptors into their restraints. She recognized Eric as one of the men.

Barry bent down to pick of the cooler as the first raptor was locked into place, her head locked securely into a muzzle, the rest of her body hidden behind a metal wall.

"Well, thanks for the drugs. You gonna hustle anyone at pool tonight?" He asked, switching his attention from the paddock, to Erin, and back to the paddock.

"It's only hustling if I get money out of it," Erin laughed. She stopped short, though, when she realized Barry had taken the cooler into the holding area. A frown formed on her face as the second and third raptor were locked into place.

Barry knelt on the ground in front of the cooler to rip off the security tape from the top of the cooler.

"What's he doing?" Erin asked, though mostly rhetorically as she moved towards the gate.

"We're gonna give 'em the shots," Owen answered, moving quickly to step between Erin and the gate. Erin stared him down, at a loss for what to say. She was confused. The lab told her nobody out here was a vet, and she was to administer each supplement. She had hoped the guy from earlier was just confused.

"Who's gonna do it? You?" Erin asked, raising her eyebrows, doubtfully staring at Owen.

"Well, yeah," he answered, as if it were obvious.

"You went to vet school? Because the lab told me nobody out here was qualified," she challenged him.

"No, I didn't go to vet school, but I've been doing them myself for forever," he answered defensively.

"Literally for forever? What, are these the original raptors?" Erin mocked.

"Look, out of everyone here, I'm the most qualified," he said, moving to open the gate. The last raptor was now securely in place.

"And I'm what?" Erin said angrily, grabbing the gate before Owen could close it behind him. She pulled it out of his grasp and stepped into the holding area. She moved to take the cooler from Barry who had removed the lid.

"You're gonna do it?" Owen scoffed.

"Well I didn't go to school for seven years just for the hell of it!" she shot back, trying to keep her volume down, mindful of the raptors. She could hear them snorting and huffing frustradedly, trying to move around in their confines.

"You're a vet?" Owen asked disbelievingly. The rest of the men in the holding area stood around awkwardly, watching the whole exchange and wondering who would win the argument.

"Is the Pope Catholic?" she retorted, grabbing the handle of the cooler. "Do I go through here to get to the other side?" She asked, pointing at the gate leading into the paddock.

"No, you're not going in there," Owen moved to stand between her and the final gate. "They know me, just let me do it."

"I want to make sure this gets done right, frat star," Erin said, ignoring his hand reaching out for her to hand over the cooler. He narrowed his eyes at her at the insult.

They may have gotten along really well in a bar three weeks ago, but in that paddock, it was like that had never happened.

"Perhaps you could both do it," Barry offered, stepping up to disarm the argument.

Owen briefly turned his glare towards Barry at the stupid suggestion, then settled his untrusting gaze back on Erin.

"If I do it from the other side of the wall, they won't even know who did it," Erin offered, trying to be civil about explaining her side.

"So why not just let me do it? This isn't my first rodeo," Owen continued to argue.

"Look, you care about them right?" Erin asked. He rolled his eyes, as if to say _obviously_ , and nodded.

"So do I. I'm not gonna fuck this up. I'm a trained professional." Erin glanced off to the side at the raptors lined up. In all of the bickering, she hadn't paid much attention to them. The restraints and muzzles hid most of their bodies from view, but Erin could clearly see their large, intelligent eyes. Up until then, she had only seen pictures and security footage.

Erin pulled in a deep breath and exhaled through her nose. She lifted up the cooler, holding it out between her and Owen.

"I'm gonna watch you like a hawk," she warned as he took the cooler from her. His expression softened and Barry breathed out a sigh of relief.

Erin followed Owen through the final gate, around the other side of the wall, and through another gate leading to the backside of the raptors.

"They're labeled," she said as Owen set the cooler on the ground and knelt beside it, picking up a syringe and examining it. The one he held labeled for the raptor on the far left.

"Echo's first then," he said, standing up and uncapping the syringe. He moved to the right side of the smallest raptor. Erin walked up next to him.

""You wanna inject it here," she said, reach across him and pointing to the thick group of muscles on the side of the animal's neck.

"I know what I'm doing," Owen muttered, defending himself and his abilities as he swiped a disinfecting wipe across the area and angled the syringe. The animal, Echo, bristled, pulling at her restraints and emitting a low growling noise, anticipating something bad to happen to her. Erin softly placed her hand on her back, slowly running it down the length of her spine in a soothing gesture as Owen administered the injection. As he slowly pressed down on the stopper, he watched Erin slowly and softly petting Echo's back out of the corner of his eye.

The next two animals, Charlie and Delta, went the same way with Erin micromanaging, and Owen barely tolerating it but being silently impressed by how she was handling the raptors.

When they got to the last and biggest of the group, Blue, she was vocalizing quite a bit. Blue hissed and snarled, trying desperately to break free from her constraints.

"Hey, easy girl," Owen cooed, placing a protective hand against her side in an attempt to calm her down. She always made the biggest fuss about supplements, and she especially didn't like strangers around her.

Erin placed her hand along Blue's spine, like how she had for the rest of the raptors. However, the action only seemed to upset the animal more, instead of soothe her like it had for the others. Blue became more vocal and started to jerk her body around. Erin immediately pulled her hand away as Owen continued talking to her.

Blue suddenly jerked her body hard towards her caretakers, hitting Erin with the side of her body. Before she could crash into Charlie's side, Owen grabbed onto her, holding her in place.

"Hey! Cut the shit, Blue!" Owen scolded, still hanging onto Erin.

"She's not happy, bother!" Barry called from the other side of the wall.

"Just pump and dump," Erin said suggested. Owen smirked at her word choice. He resituated himself at the base of Blue's neck. He spoke to her in a comforting voice as he braced his free hand against her side to steady her as he quickly finished the injection.

He patted her as he finished and quickly led her out of the enclosure so the raptors could be let loose and rewarded with food.

"Told you I could do it," Owen said proudly. Erin rolled her eyes and turned her gaze into the paddock where the four raptors were tearing into pig.

Owen glanced out as his newly vaccinated raptors, then turned his gaze to Erin who was watching them with interest. He was a bit surprised to see that she wasn't visibly disgusted by the violent feeding.

"Is this how you normally feed them?" Erin asked, ignoring Owen patting his own back.

"Yeah, plus rats when we do training exercises," Owen answered.

"Echo's lowest on the totem pole, isn't she? She's underweight," Erin guessed, turning her attention back to Owen.

"How'd you know? Her position, that is," Owen asked, impressed that she could tell so quickly.

"They push her out and she takes it. It's normal, just make sure she's getting enough. If she falls too far behind they'll destroy her," Erin warned. Owen nodded, taking in the advice.

"They don't freak you out?" he asked, leading her through the first gate and locking it securely behind them. He was impressed with how she practically demanded to give them their shots, didn't hesitate to get close to them and touch them, and didn't even flinch when Blue knocked her over.

"They're hardly the scariest thing I've visited today. Before this was a group of adolescent baryonyx. And before that was the tyrannosaurus," she answered with a shrug. Owen let out a low, impressed whistle.

"Damn, girl," he said, walking Erin across the lot towards her Jeep.

Owen opened the trunk door for her, and she dropped the empty cooler and her kit. He propped his forearm against the edge of the open door and leaned against it, cocking his hip to the said and resting his fist against it as he watched Erin jot down quick notes on the clipboard.

"You going out tonight?" he asked, watching Erin write. She smirked and glanced up at him quickly.

"I don't know, this major asshole at the raptor paddock really threw me off schedule," she joked, interested to see where he was going with that question.

"What a jerk. I'll have a word with him, don't worry," he said, going along with the joke, a boyish grin spreading across his face. "I hear your friend and my friend are going out tonight."

"So you're gonna third wheel it?" Erin laughed, clicking her pen and securing it under the clip of the clipboard.

"Well, hopefully not," Owen answered as Erin tossed the clipboard on top of her kit, stepping away from the trunk so Owen could swing the door closed.

"I'll see how I feel later," Erin shrugged noncommittally with a smirk. Owen returned the smirk and nodded as she climbed into the driver's seat of the Jeep.

"Fair enough," he said, back out of the way of the Jeep. Erin turned to him and winked as she slammed the door shut. She started the Jeep, and without giving the AC time to cool off, she shifted into reverse and back out of the spot, then turned back towards the road. She watched Owen walk back to the barn where the rest of the guys stood through her review mirror as she drove off.

It wasn't even 5 o'clock yet, and she was done with her fieldwork. She had two options. She could go back to the lab and get some a head start on paperwork and avoid a stressful weekend. Or she could clock out early, go back to her apartment and take a shower, and get ready to go out.

* * *

"If You Wanna" by the Vaccines


	4. Three

I don't know how these chapters keep getting longer and longer.

In case it needs to be said, I am in no way trained in veterinary medicine. My knowledge comes from PetMD, so if any of the medical stuff sounds made up or wrong, it is. Also I've been rewatching Parks and Rec, and I've been trying really hard to keep Owen Grady from turning into Andy Dwyer. Also also I'm trying to be better about proof reading.

* * *

By the time Erin turned in the Jeep, she had made up her mind. She went up to the lab to drop off the new shot records to be filed the next day, grabbed a short stack of paperwork to shove into her backpack, and went off in search of Emily. She found the veterinarian technician at a computer in one of the workrooms.

"You're back!" Emily shouted as Erin walked through the door.

"Did you miss me?" Erin laughed, pulling a rolling chair next to Emily's station and dropping down into it with a huff.

"You have no idea. I thought writing down the every movement of an Apatosaurus herd was dull, but I've been transcribing records all week," Emily complained.

"Well, I think it's close enough to quittin' time to dip out a little early," Erin suggested, quirking a suggestive eyebrow. Emily smirked as she immediately saved all of her work and powered down the computer.

"Best boss ever," she cheered, shoving all of her things into her bag.

"Technically I'm not your boss. Just your superior," Erin corrected, standing up the same time as Emily. The pair clocked out and left the building together, making plans to go home to shower and get ready, and then meet back up at Emily's apartment at 9 o'clock.

Erin took a shower as soon as she got home, put on a pair of yoga pants and an old college shirt, and ran some product through her wet hair so that it would air dry smooth and wavy. She did actually own a hair dryer and styling tools, but they were shoved to the back of the cabinet under the sink behind some cleaning supplies and extra rolls of toilet paper.

She made a grilled cheese sandwich and grabbed a bag of baby carrots from the fridge. She used a paper towel as a plate and the coffee table in the living area served as her dining table. With a baby carrot stuck between her teeth, Erin leaned across and stretched to reach her backpack a few feet away from her on the floor. She pulled out the paperwork she had taken from the lab earlier and a pen and got to work as she ate her dinner. She worked through all of her paper work with one of Wilie Nelson's greatest hits albums playing quietly in the background. She wouldn't can herself a big fan, but somehow the album was the only music on her phone, and her laptop was back in her bedroom and not worth getting up for.

Once the paperwork was done, Erin grabbed the book on the side table next to the couch that she had been reading through for the past week. She opened the book up to the page she had left it on, marked with a pencil she used in lieu of an actual bookmark. She used it to underline and take notes. She hated highlighting in books- the bright colors were too distracting from the content- and pens felt too permanent.

Erin read her book on herpetology until 8:30. She hadn't learned much about herpetology while she was in school, and all of her work experience before Jurassic World had been anything but. When she decided that she wanted to apply for her job, Erin started a strict study regimen on herpetology and paleontology to prepare for the job. Since starting, she only continued that research. She wasn't the passive learning type. She knew that if she wanted to do a good job, and if she was going to get anything out of the job, then she would have to give it everything she had.

She replaced the book back on the table next to the couch, put the now half empty bag of baby carrots back in the fridge, and went into her bedroom to get ready.

Her closet was full of work shirts and t-shirts. Normally she would have folded the shits and keep them in the dresser, but there was an excess of closet space, and the dresser was actually pretty small. It contained all of her underwear, socks and folded shorts and work pants.

Figuring out what to wear out was a bit of an issue. All three of her nice tops revealed her awful tan lines. It wasn't that she had just one tan line on her arms. No, she had a series of tan lines from wearing shirts with different sleeve lengths. They weren't that bad, the contrast wasn't very bold, but they wouldn't help Erin make the good impression she wanted to make.

As Erin scrutinized her tan lines in the mirror, she wondered why it even mattered. She and Emily compared tan lines all the time, and she would bet serious money that every single person on Isla Nublar had at least a couple of their own. She wondered if Owen was a superficial guy, into girls who really took care of their appearance. But then Erin thought ' _fuck that_ ' and pulled the nice top off, and ripped a t-shirt off of a hanger and pulled it on over her head.

The shirt was a white and heather gray baseball tee with three-quarter length sleeves, hiding all of Erin's tan lines completely. It was just a t-shirt, but it was at least slim fitting.

All of Erin's shorts were either for work, and therefore not cute at all, or short enough to show off tan lines. So Erin pulled down her yoga pants, kicked them off into the corner of the room, and pulled on a clean pair of slim fitting blue jeans.

After pulling on a thin pair of ankle socks, she forcefully shoved on suede booties with a strip of short fringe running up the backs. She didn't own much jewelry, just a few necklaces and earrings. Rings and bracelets weren't practical in the field. With her hair down, Erin didn't see much point in earrings. And she always wore the same necklace- a tiny gold crescent moon shaped pendant on a short, delicate chain. It had been a graduation present from her little sister, back when she finished her undergrad. She decided that was enough, and pulled the necklace out over the collar of the baseball tee so it rested on top of the fabric.

After she was done dressing, Erin went into the bathroom and put on a touch of makeup; just some foundation to even out her skin and a dash of smudged eyeliner to bring her eyes out a little. She already had thick, dark lashes, and they didn't need much help. Plus, mascara was a bitch to take off.

Erin was done and ready by 8:45. She shoved her phone, some cash, and her Jurassic World ID card into her back pocket. The little ID card was practically a master key to all of the park. It got her into the lab, the park garage, the staff housing complex, the cafeteria, the gym, exhibits, restricted sections, and even her own apartment.

Making sure the door was locked behind her, Erin took the stairs down two floors to Emily's apartment. Since she was only technically an intern, she shared an apartment with three other girls.

Erin knocked on the apartment door loudly, and was let in by one of Emily's roommates. She recognized Erin as one of Emily's friends and let her in. Erin had been in the apartment several times before and knew where to go.

Emily's shared bedroom door was open, and Erin walked in. The apartment housed four girls in two bedrooms, with two bathrooms.

Erin poked her head around the open door of Emily's shared bathroom to say hello and watch Emily curl her hair.

"God you always get ready so fast. You're lucky your hair does that all on its own," Emily said, wrapping a chunk of hair around a curling wand.

"I can't take all the credit. I used some anti-frizz stuff," Erin smirked, causing Emily to roll her eyes. "Why are you putting so much effort into this anyway? It's just Margaritaville, and you've been seeing Eric for almost a month now."

"Because we aren't official yet, and I need to keep looking good until we seal the deal," Emily explained.

"I thought you said you slept with him already, like multiple times," Erin said, stepping into the bathroom and leaning against the counter to continue watching Emily curl her hair.

"Oh, no, we've had a ton of sex. But until he calls me his girlfriend, I'm gonna look as hot as possible so he'll _have_ to," Emily explained with a wink.

"That is so twisted. He doesn't really strike me as the girlfriend-having kinda guy, though."

"Well, you can't blame a girl for trying," Emily countered.

"You could just ask him," Erin suggested. All of the effort Emily was going through seemed like a lot to Erin. She understood the mind games of dating, and had played plenty of them herself. But she hadn't been in a relationship for a few years now, and the effort they required just didn't seem to be worth it to her anymore. Not when she had such a demanding job.

Emily rolled her eyes at Erin's suggestion. "You're going pretty casual for tonight," she said, pointedly looking Erin up and down, gesturing with the curling wand.

"I'm not trying to get a boyfriend, though," Erin defended.

"Eric said Owen was coming," Emily supplied.

"Yeah, he mentioned he might earlier today," Erin confirmed.

"Oh yeah, was it awkward seeing him for the first time in three weeks? Must not have been if he told he was coming out tonight," Emily mused with a devilish smirk.

"We had a fight, and then we made up, I guess. And then we flirted a little, and he asked if I was gonna come out tonight, and then I left," Erin gave Emily the short version of her time at the raptor paddock.

"Why am I not surprised? Do you know his sign by any chance? You guys have this really fiery sexual tension," Emily asked, setting the curling wand down on the countertop and running her fingers through her fresh curls.

"I don't know what his sign is, and how would you even know we have sexual tension?" Erin challenged. "And we don't, by the way."

"You guys sucked each other's faces off for like twenty minutes," Emily pointed out. "It would be weird if you didn't have sexual tension."

"We were drunk and that was three weeks ago," Erin muttered, defending herself. Sure, it would be nice to have sexual tension with someone, especially someone as attractive as Owen. But seeing him while she was working that day had been a little reminder that they were technically colleagues.

"You know, everyone here is hook up with each other," Emily announced. "Where else are we gonna get it?" Emily laughed, but knew Emily was had a point.

"We'll just see how tonight goes," Erin chuckled, not wanting to put much more thought into any possibilities with Owen. She didn't want to get her hopes up for anything.

"You seem like his type. I bet he's the kinda guy that gets impressed when girls aren't afraid to get their hands dirty, or say something about how you aren't afraid of carbs like most girls if he sees you eat a burger," Emily commented thoughtfully, causing Erin to laugh again.

"You know, he had the most surprised expression on his dumb, cute face when he realized I was a vet and not just delivering meds," Erin confessed, causing Emily to erupt into a fit of giggles.

"Eric asked what attraction I worked at. He thought I was in guest relations or something," Emily admitted.

"When he asked that, did he say it was because you have such a nice personality?" Erin asked dubiously.

"Ha! Nailed it!" she cried.

"Guys are idiots," Erin laughed along with Emily, shaking her head.

Emily took ten more minutes on her makeup. She was a pro at enhancing her natural features. She was also considerably more dressed up than Erin, wearing a nice white tank top tucked into a casual skirt. On their way out of the apartment, Emily grabbed a small purse and slipped on a pair of embellished sandals.

They got to Margaritaville at 9:15; fashionably late as Emily liked to say. However, it seemed as if they still managed to get there before Eric. They sat down at a high top table with five stools around it. Emily explained that Eric said he would be coming straight from work with some of his coworkers, and that she wanted it to seem like she was the cool girl that could hang out with his friends.

Erin pulled her phone out from her back pocket and set it on the table so that she could sit comfortably without worrying that it would fall out.

The girls ate from a bowl of chips and a side of salsa as they waited, talking about when they expected the adolescent baryonyx would be introduced into the Cretaceous Cruise attraction.

At 9:30, Eric showed up with a group of guys that Erin recognized form the raptor paddock earlier that day. She tried to pretend that she didn't notice Owen at the back of the group, talking to Barry as they went up to the bar.

Eric stopped by at their table, kissing Emily in greeting.

"Hey, babe. I'm gonna get a drink, you want?" Eric asked.

"Yeah, surprise me," Emily answered. He grinned and left to join Owen, Barry, and the other guys at the bar.

"Oh, we're totally gonna do it tonight," Emily whispered conspiratorially to Erin with a smirk. "He's looking extra good." Erin laughed at the comment and looked over to the bar. She had to agree with Emily; Eric was pretty attractive, especially in his very tight dark grey t-shirt. But then her gaze moved to Owen, who was standing next to Eric. He looked the exact same as he did earlier that day. Owen then looked up from his conversation with Eric and Barry, sweeping his gaze across the room until he found Erin. They made brief eye contact before Erin quickly turned away to pretend like she was talking to Emily and not watching him. He smirked to himself, glad to see that she was out and that she was looking at him.

"Is Owen gonna get lucky tonight?" Emily asked, knowing exactly what had just happened.

"Shut up," Erin muttered, shoving a large chip smothered in salsa into her mouth.

A minute later, Eric weaved through the crowd to their table, a drink in each hand. Owen was following him, carrying to glasses of beer. Emily smacked the side of Erin's thigh at the sight. Erin lightly kicked her in the leg in exchange.

"Hello again, ladies," Eric said, setting a vodka lemonade down in front of Emily and sitting down next to her, holding his own mixed drink

"Look whose gracing us with her presence," Owen greeted Erin, setting both beers down on the table and sitting next to her. "I thought it would be weird if I came over here with tequila shots, so I just played it safe with beer. I think its what you had last time," he explained, pushing one of the glasses towards her.

"And he's too macho to order a strawberry margarita," Eric taunted.

"This is perfect, thank you," Erin said, defending Owen from Eric's teasing. She took a big sip of the beer to prove her point. She really couldn't remember what beer she had had the last time they were out, but she was impressed that he even remember that they had beer at some point that night.

"I'm so glad to see you guys made up after that fight today. I thought you were gonna start brawling for a while there," Eric joked.

"Oh yeah, you mentioned something about that," Emily chimed in, prompting Erin and Owen to share the story.

"It wasn't that bad," Owen said, hoping to avoid reminding Erin of how he had been so territorial about his raptors.

"Nah, he only insulted my intelligence, education, training, and ability," Erin smirked.

"Yeah, so no big deal," Owen added, glad to see that she was having a sense of humor about it.

"You called him a frat star," Eric reminded them, causing Emily to snort with laughter.

"What does that even mean?" Owen asked. Erin took a long drink of beer to avoid answering that question.

"Erin takes her job so seriously. One time, one of the handlers at the Cretaceous Cruise yelled at a microceratus and I thought Erin was gonna punch him," Emily remembered.

"Sounds like he deserved it. How could you yell at such a small animal?" Owen chuckled.

The conversation continued on with Emily and Eric gradually scooting their stools closer to each other and eventually breaking off into their own private conversation. Owen and Erin fell into an easy conversation, swapping dinosaur stories.

Erin drank slowly, not eager to repeat the last time she went out. Well, she would be OK making out with Owen again, but she didn't want to do it publicly at least.

Owen had already finished his beer, and the small amount left in Erin's glass was now warm and flat.

"Want another?" Owen asked, stacking his glass into hers.

"Yes, please," she nodded. He grabbed the stacked glasses and left for the bar.

"You two gonna make out tonight?" Eric teased from across the table, interrupting whatever he and Emily had been talking about.

"Not in this bar!" Erin proclaimed. It wasn't until after she spoke that she realized what exactly she had said, and what it implied. Eric and Emily smirked and went back to their own little conversation.

Owen was on his way back to the table, weaving through the increasingly large crowd. They made eye contact from across the room again, but this time they both smiled at each other. Erin's attention was pulled away, though, by the buzzing of her phone. She looked down at it on the table, the caller ID reading "Vet Office."

"Ah, shit," Erin muttered as she swiped her thumb across the screen to take the call just as Owen sat down.

"Doctor Graham," Erin answered the phone, watching as Owen set two fresh beers down on the table. She had trouble hearing through the music and crowd noise in the bar, and stuck a finger in her opposite ear as she turned the volume up on her phone.

Everyone at the table was watching her, knowing that if she was taking a call and answering it professionally meant that something was probably wrong.

Erin sighed as she hung up the phone, sliding off of the stool to stand.

"Some idiot fed a baby brachiosaurus something they shouldn't have," Erin explained dejectedly, envisioning the mess she was going to have to deal with. Babies had weak digestive systems, and something off of the approved food list was guaranteed to make a mess.

"Oh no," Emily pulled a disgusted face, imagining what Erin was going to have to deal with.

"Sorry, y'all. Em, I'll see you in the morning. Later, guys," Erin said her goodbyes and turned to leave the group.

"Wait, I'll walk you over there," Owen offered, standing from the table and abandoning the fresh drinks. Erin noticed the impressed smile on Emily's face at Owen's gesture.

"You don't have to," Erin told him. His offer was nice, and she didn't have time to argue with him on it.

"Not a problem. The attraction has been closed for hours, they probably don't have too many handlers out there. I might come in handy," Owen explained as he followed Erin through the crowd.

"I need to stop by the office first," Erin told him as we walked next to her. She had shifted into work mode, on a mission, and they didn't talk much on the way to the office.

Once there, Erin used her ID to get into the building. She led Owen through the dark entry, and down a dimly lit hallway. She stopped in front of a door and swiped her ID across the pad next to the handle, unlocked the door. Once she opened the door and stepped inside, the lights switched on automatically from the occupancy sensor being activated. Owen looked around the office and stood by the door as Erin walked to the back of the room. The office held five desks with large computer monitors on each of them. There were a ton of filing cabinets pushed against the walls, and anatomical charts of different species of dinosaurs mixed in with framed scenic photographs of the island decorated the walls.

Erin toed off her shoes and pulled a tall pair of forest green rain boots out from under the desk. She sat on the edge of the desk to pull them on over her jeans. She then opened the large bottom drawer of the desk and pulled out a small kit bag. She kicked the drawer shut and walked back towards Owen.

"Expecting a mess?" he asked, looking down at her shoes as he followed her out of the office and back down the hallway to another locked door.

"Unfortunately," Erin answered as she unlocked the door with her ID. Owen held the door open as Erin ran into the supply room, grabbing a couple of oral syringes. She then crossed the room to the refrigerator and pulled a jar out. She went to a different cabinet after that and pulled out more supplies, shoving everything into her kit. Once satisfied that she had everything, she slung the bag over her shoulder and led Owen out of the building.

They walked quickly to the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo. Erin led the way to the restricted part of the attraction and to the nursery barn where the exhibit animals were housed at night. A handler was standing at the open door, waiting for Erin to arrive.

"You the vet?" he called as she and Owen approached.

"Yeah, where is she?" Erin confirmed, getting right down to business. The handler led them through the barn. The animals were all separated by species and were mostly all sound asleep. The barn was quiet as they walked to the back where another handler stood outside of a small stall, the only one emitting light.

Erin wasted no time, opening the gate and closing it quietly behind her. The walls of the stall were low, allowing Erin to communicate with the handlers and Owen as she examined the ailing brachiosaurus.

"We think she got some ice cream or cotton candy. They park the stands right at the entrance during the day," the handler that had been with the baby explained to Erin.

"We cleaned her up when we called you. It was… a mess," the handler that had greeted them at the door supplied.

Owen crossed his arms and leaned on the low wall, watching Erin work. He watched as she stared down at the baby brachiousaurs with concentration, running her hands over its exposed stomach.

"Has she had water?" Erin asked.

"Both keepers nodded and said ' _yes'_ simultaneously. Erin shifted from her squatting position to kneel on one knee as she pulled her kit towards her and rummaged through it.

"One of you get some more. She can't get dehydrated. Owen, come here," Erin ordered. One of the handlers rushed off to get some water, and Owen entered the stall, kneeling on the ground on the opposite side of the brachiousaurus as Erin.

"What'dya need, boss?" Owen asked, ready to help.

"Hold her," Erin instructed simply as she pulled on a pair of gloves. She reached into her kit, pulling out a vacutainer and a needle. She located a vein along the baby's leg, attached the needle to a plastic barrel, uncapped the needle, and stuck it in the vain. She quickly attached the vacutainer and waited for it to fill with blood. She detached it once it was full and held it out in the air until the remaining handler wised up and took it from her.

Erin pressed a gauze pad against the injection site with one hand as she dug around in her kit with the other.

The baby brachiosaurus weakly reacted, but Owen held her gently in place.

"What did the stool look like?" Erin asked the handler as she pulled out another sample kit. "Any blood? Watery? Undigested food?"

"No blood, but yeah, pretty watery," the handler answered. Erin nodded, absorbing the information as she started to take a fecal sample. The brachiosaurus whined in discomfort, and Owen had to hold her down a little harder as she struggled.

"I know, little girl, this sucks. I'm done down there, I promise," Erin cooed to the baby as she capped her sample and handed it off to the disgusted looking handler. She tore off her gloves and threw them over the low wall and out of the stall.

"I'll take these samples to the lab just to make sure its not bacterial, or a parasite. None of the others are like this, right?" Erin explained. She turned her attention away from the animal and to the handler.

"No, she's the only one," the handler answered.

"She have a name?" Erin asked, stroking the animals side soothingly as Owen let go of her long neck and tail.

"No, we don't really name them," the handler answered. Erin rolled her eyes.

"She looks like a Frida to me," Erin said, smiling down at the baby as she rolled from her side and onto her stomach.

"Frida? What kind of name is that?" Owen scoffed.

"Not an art fan?" Erin joked. Owen only screwed his eyebrows together in confusion, obviously not getting the reference. "Thought so," Erin chuckled. Owen really didn't seem like the type to know anything about art history, especially who Frida Kahlo was.

Erin pulled more supplies out of her bag. One of the items was a sharpie that she handed to the handler. "Write her name on those samples," she instructed.

The remaining items in her hand were a jar of what looked like baby food and an oral syringe.

"I'm gonna see if she'll eat any of this. It's just mashed banana," Erin explained as she unscrewed the lid to the jar. The second handler came back, leaned over the wall, and placed a pan of water on the ground near Frida's head. Erin stuck the oral syringe into the jar and slowly filled it.

Frida stretched her neck towards the water, and Owen pushed it across the floor closer to her reach. She took several mouthfuls of water.

"That's a good sign," Erin announced happily, holding the syringe ready, waiting for Frida to finish drinking.

"Y'all need to keep a better eye out for food. Processed sugar is hell on an animal's stomach, especially a baby's," Owen chided the handlers as Erin fed the mashed banana to the recovering Frida.

"Usually we're pretty good at keeping that kind of thing from happening. Neither of us were on duty during visiting hours, though," the first handler explained to Owen. Everyone watched as Frida continued to eat. Eventually Erin stopped though, not wanting to let her eat too much so soon.

Owen couldn't help but be impressed by Erin. She took charge of the situation, just like she had when she visited the raptor paddock earlier. She knew what she was doing. But he was most impressed by the care she showed towards the animals. She acted the way he imagined a normal domesticated pet veterinarian would act towards a golden retriever.

He knew that he had definitely underestimated her when he first met her. He assumed she had just been a regular handler, or worked in guest services.

Owen stood when she did, and let her out of the stall first, closing the gate behind him. Erin was satisfied that Frida would be fine, but took the blood and stool samples from the handler and put them in her bag anyway. She would still take them to the lab for analysis, just in case.

"Not exactly my idea of a fun night out, but not bad," Owen commented as they walked back towards the vet offices to drop the samples off.

"Yeah, well, you make a good nurse. You have a lovely bedside manner," Erin joked, looking up at him. Most of the street lights had been turned off to conserve energy at the late hour, but there was just enough light for her to see his face well enough. He smiled back down at her.

"I'll keep that in mind if I ever wanna switch careers," he chuckled.

"Why the hell would you want to do that?" Erin scoffed.

"Wouldn't be the first time," he shrugged.

"You train velociraptors. You don't give that up," Erin responded. She had to admit, he had a really cool job description. He smiled at her impressed tone.

"It is pretty cool," he agreed.

"Major street cred," she added.

Erin dropped the samples off quickly, leaving a note to expedite them.

Once out of the offices, Erin started walking back towards the staff apartments. She didn't feel like going back to Margaritaville just for it to close as soon as she arrived. And if Owen ended up following her all the way back to her apartment, she wouldn't protest.

"I'm out that way," Owen said, slowing his pace and jerking his thumb down a maintenance road.

"You live off base?" Erin asked.

"Yeah, got a little bungalow set up out by the lake," he explained. Erin nodded appreciatively as she turned and stepped back towards him to say goodbye.

"Impressive," she complimented.

"It's an Airstream connected to a wooden shack," Owen laughed.

"Still impressive. If it had been a VW bus, it'd be a different story," Erin quipped.

"In a good or bad way?" he asked curiously.

"Definitely not in a good way," she smiled. "Well, I have a patient follow up early in the morning, so…" Erin started, wondering how Owen was going to end the night. She sure as hell wasn't going to make a move.

"You'll have to tell me how Frida gets along," Owen suggested. "And you'll have to explain that name to me," he added, causing Erin to smirk.

"Deal," she agreed, taking a step backwards to start her walk back home. For a split second, it looked like Owen was going to make a move to do something, but changed his mind.

"See you next Wednesday?" he asked as they both slowly stepped away from each other.

"Maybe!" she called, turning around and starting her walk back home. She could hear Owen chuckle to himself, but didn't turn around to look. Emily would be proud that she was playing hard to get, and that they hadn't been awkward with each other. Which was a very real possibility, after drunkenly and publicly making out three weeks ago, fighting publicly and aggressively earlier that day, and then ending the night with him watching her handle the bodily fluids of a sick baby dinosaur.

The night could have been better, but Erin decided that it could have been so, so much worse. She would count it as a small victory.

* * *

"Vancouver" by Kopecky


	5. Four

Sorry for the delay. I got caught up in a shit storm of a new foster dog, a needy freelance client, job interviews, etc etc. This is a bit shorter, and probably a little disjointed. Please review if you feel so inclined!

* * *

Not even an hour after Erin turned out her bedroom light to go to sleep, her phone started to ring. Before she even answered it, she knew what the call was about. She was already sitting up and turning the light on as she answered the phone.

She was pulling on work pants as one of the Gentle Giants petting zoo handlers explained that Frida, the brachiosaurus from earlier was sick again. Erin was out the door two minutes later, running down the dimly lit apartment building hallway towards the elevators.

Once on the ground floor, she took off running again, bursting through the doors and down the path to the barn she had been in an hour and a half ago with Owen.

Erin's mind raced, considering every possibility and thinking through various courses of action for each one. If Frida was sick again so soon after treatment, then she ate something worse than some idiot child's cotton candy, or something even worse was happening. But she knew that she needed to asses the situation before she started making assumptions.

As she approached the barn, Erin noticed two Jurassic World Jeeps parked near the entrance that hadn't been there earlier. As she entered the barn, she counted a total of five handlers. One lead her back down to Frida's stall, explaining the situation. The brachiosaurus' condition had significantly worsened, and it seemed as if three other animals were showing similar symptoms. Erin was on her phone in an instant, first calling a lab technician that she was friendly with to get to the lab immediately to process Frida's samples. The second call was to her superior, Doctor Walsh.

By the time the sun had risen, Erin was literally up to her elbows in shit and a whole team of veterinarians had descended upon the Gentle Giants barn. Everyone was desperately trying to treat the symptoms of the new total of eight baby brachiosaurses as they waited for the results of the original samples, plus a whole slew of new ones.

As opening time for the park and the attraction approached, the powers that be were torn between opening and pretending that everyone was normal, or closing the entire attraction. So far, nobody knew the source of the epidemic, how serious it could potentially be to both the infected animals, the healthy animals, and the humans caring for the animals.

By opening time at 8 AM, the attraction was only partially opened. Only VIP guests were admitted to the petting zoo, and all brachiosauruses, as they were now all showing symptoms, were kept inside the barn.

By noon, results came back from the lab. All of the doctors on hand feared the cause of the outbreak to be bacterial or a parasite, but the results of the lab ruled out both. Barely fifteen minutes later, an unmarked black suburban pulled up to the back of the barn. Three very serious looking men armed to the teeth stepped out, flanking their leader, an older man wearing a short-sleeved button up shirt and dark sunglasses. The superior doctors greeted the group before they could enter the barn, preventing everyone inside from hearing their conversation.

The handlers and doctors that remained inside stilled their work to exchange worried glances and voice concerns about what was about to happen.

The handler nearest to Erin recognized the men, identifying them as InGen head Vic Hoskins and three of his underlings. Erin and everyone else working in that barn knew that their presence was bad news.

After the conversation between Hoskins and the doctors, he left, but one the underlings stayed behind. Erin knew his purpose there was to watch everyone like a hawk and report back to InGen. The security division being involved lit a fire under everyone's ass to solve the problem before any animals were lost, by either the disease or paranoid security teams.

By 2 PM, all possible bacterial and parasitic infections had been ruled it, and it looked like viral infections weren't the culprit either. Geneticists from the Creation Lab had been called in and were working on figuring out if the issue was somehow genetic.

By 4 PM, someone suggested the idea that maybe the cause of the outbreak was actually a reaction to a medicine.

When Erin heard that suggestion, her mind kicked into overdrive. The theory made sense. The lab had just produced new supplements, and they had just been implemented not even twenty four hours ago. New tests were ordered to confirm the theory and the doctors started making calls to every other attraction in the park. Everyone that had implemented the new drugs were instructed to call and confirm that the animals they had supplemented the day before were healthy and showing no worrisome signs.

Erin called the handlers from the Cretaceous Cruise, Triceratops Territory, and Tyrannosaurus Rex Kingdom, explaining what exactly was happening, asking if they were experiencing anything similar, giving specific instructions on what to look out for, and scheduling times for the next day for Erin to come back and evaluate all of the animals.

When she tried to call the office at the raptor paddock, Erin panicked when nobody picked up. She called a second time, thinking maybe they just hadn't made it to the phone in time. After the third unanswered call, Erin was in full worst-case scenario mode.

Packing up her kit and peeling off her gloves, Erin explained to the nearest doctor that she needed to get to the velociraptor paddock immediately, and she was out the barn door like a shot a minute later.

Erin drove quickly and furiously, recklessly trying to call the raptor office two more times, still with no luck. She was imagining the horrible scenario that nobody was able to answer they phone because they were all too busy dealing with a similar scenario as the Gentle Giants attraction.

Erin nearly spun the Jeep out of control three times in her mad rush to the compound, but didn't slow down. She rounded the final bend in the dirt road in a cloud of dirt and gravel and came to a skidding halt. She jumped out of the car, kit thrown over her shoulder, not even bothering to close the car door behind her, and sprinted towards the paddock.

Men rushed out from the office and supply shed, and others turned away from the gate of the paddock to watch the commotion.

"Where's Owen?" Erin demanded to the first person she came across.

"Where's the fire, doc?" the man asked, worry written all over his face.

"He's in the middle of a drill. What's going on?" Eric asked, stepping up and pushing the first man out of the way. Erin was glad to see a familiar face, and was even happier to see that he was picking up on her panic.

"I've been trying to call," Erin started. She noticed that nobody seemed on edge or worried by anything other than her dramatic entrance, and thought it would be best to keep her worries between herself and the man in charge.

"Our phone line's been busted," Eric explained, turning to lead Erin towards the paddock. Barry was standing in the vestibule to the paddock, writing quickly on a clipboard. He turned his attention from the training drill to the group of men following Eric, and to his surprise, Erin.

Eric lead Erin to the base of the metal stairs leading to what Erin discovered was a catwalk that encircled and traversed the paddock.

Erin could hear Owen shouting orders, trying desperately to gain and hold the attention of four raptors. Eric ascended the stairs to get Owen's attention.

"Yo, Grady, the doc's here," Erin heard him call to Owen.

"Tell her to wait," Owen answered shortly, waving Eric off. He was too deep into the training exercise to stop and play host to a girl, even if it was Erin. She was professional, and he figured she would understand.

Eric turned around to look back down at Erin and shrugged his shoulders, indicating that she would have to wait. Erin huffed. She dropped her kit in the dirt and ascended the stairs, ignoring Eric's instructions not to. She pushed past him and stepped onto the catwalk.

She saw Owen standing in the center of the bridge that went across the paddock, holding a rat in one hand and a training clicker in the other.

If he was in the middle of training, then the raptors probably weren't showing any adverse side effects to their latest round of supplements.

Owen shot her a warning look when he realized she had come up on the catwalk, but didn't say anything, fearful of disrupting the training. Erin didn't care though, she wasn't there to talk.

She stepped up to the railing and gazed down at the four raptors, watching closely for any sort of odd behavior. Though, she had to admit that she wasn't exactly a raptor behavior expert. She wasn't sure what normal behavior looked like. But she didn't know what discomfort looked like, as most animals displayed that similarly.

The two raptors were scuffling, nipping at each other and knocking each other away. One had a wandering eye and seemed interested in anything but Owen and the exercise. The largest one had her eyes fixated on the rat in Owen's hand.

Erin observed the animals for the rest of the exercise. Eric didn't bother to pull her away or tell her to leave. She was just looking and he figured she had a good reason, based on her extreme entrance and the serious look plastered on her face.

When Owen tossed his final rat and ended the drill, he turned his attention on Erin.

"What are you doing out here?" he called, making his way across the catwalk.

Erin continued watching the raptors closely and didn't answer him until he stepped up next to her.

"Have you noticed anything odd in their behavior?" she asked, ignoring his question.

"Odd how?" he asked.

"Aggressive, moody behavior. Discomfort, pain," she listed. Owen thought a minute and shook his head.

"They're always aggressive and moody, but no more than usual," he answered. "What's going on?" he asked suspiciously.

"Frida didn't eat any cotton candy," Erin said, turning her gaze away from the brawling raptors to look up at Owen.

"Is that some weird sex code?" Eric asked, eyeing Erin and Owen with a quirked eyebrow and a bawdy smirk. They both shot him a glare, prompting him to leave the two alone.

"So what caused her to get sick?" Owen asked, already anticipating where the conversation was going.

"All of the brachiousaurses are showing the exact same symptoms. The lab ruled out parasites and bacterial and viral infections. We're almost one hundred percent sure that it's a reaction," Erin explained.

"A reaction to what? If you say those new supplements," Owen warned. The grim look on Erin's face confirmed his suspicions.

"Fuck," he swore, running a hand through his hair.

"No other dinosaurs are showing any signs or symptoms as of now, so it looks like its only affecting the baby brachiosaureses. Their immune symptoms aren't fully developed yet, and its entirely possible that the lab fucked up in their specific formula, or they discovered some sort of brachiosaurus-specific intolerance," she continued.

"So why are you out here?" he asked, wondering how this had to do with him and the raptors.

"Nobody was answering the phone," she said with a shrug. Owen rolled his eyes.

"The line's been down," he said, repeating what Eric had said.

"So I heard. Y'all should get that fixed," Erin pointed out.

"It's on the list. We all have phones so it hasn't been a huge priority," Owen explained.

"That doesn't do me any good in a potential emergency situation," Erin countered.

"It would if you had my number," Owen smirked.

"Flirt with me later," Erin warned. She was still in work mode. Owen wanted to roll his eyes, but he could still see the worry on Erin's face.

"You look like shit," he observed.

"I said don't flirt, not be a dick," Erin narrowed her eyes at him, causing him to chuckle.

"I meant you look like you haven't slept and like you're going to explode with worry all over my paddock," he explained, defending himself. Erin sighed.

"Sorry. You're right; I didn't sleep. I was back at the barn barely an hour after we left and I've been working nonstop ever since," Erin said, rubbing a hand up and down her face.

"C'mon," Owen grabbed Erin by the shoulder and steered her down the staircase and too the office building.

The air conditioning inside the building felt amazing, even though it was fairly weak. Owen continued to lead her into an office and directed her to a chair sitting next to a desk covered in paperwork. She dropped down into the chair and nearly melted into it. It really felt good to be sitting and not worrying about sick animals. Her worry about the raptors had been dispelled and she could finally relax a tiny bit.

A moment later Owen handed her a battered looking metal water bottle full of cold water. She gratefully took it from him and took a long drink. She had left her own water bottle back in her apartment. When half the bottle was gone, she handed it back to Owen who had sat down in the chair next to her. He took a long drink then screwed the cap back onto the bottle and set it down on the ground at his feet.

"If anything was going to happen, I think the raptors would already be showing signs. And none of the other animals in the park are showing any signs of a bad reaction," Erin told Owen, turning her attention from the messy stacks of papers on his desk to him. The more she looked at the papers, the more she wanted to organize them herself.

"How long had it been in Frida's system before the reaction started?" Owen asked.

"The reports show that her doctor was there about seven hours prior. But a baby brachiosaurs has a weak system and a small body; it doesn't take long for something like that to hit. For the large animals, it might take a while for any signs to manifest," Erin answered. Owen nodded, absorbing the information he had been given.

"So only time will tell," he summarized. Erin nodded.

The two sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes. Erin was trying not to think about how tired she was suddenly feeling, and Owen was wondering if his raptors would be affected or not.

"What the hell kind of name is Frida, anyway?" Owen finally broke the silence, causing Erin to laugh out loud.

"You really have no clue?" she asked incredulously. Owen just shrugged.

"Frida Kahlo. She's a famous Mexican painter," Erin answered, pulling out her phone to find a picture. She then held it out to Owen to show him one of her self-portraits.

"Oh, yeah, I've seen this before," he said, recognition sweeping over him. "Why did you name a dinosaur after an artist?" He passed the phone back to her.

"Why did you name four dinosaurs after the NATO phonetic alphabet?" Erin countered, causing Owen to chuckle and shrug.

"I guess that's what happens when you spend almost your entire adult life in the Navy," he answered. Erin looked up at him in surprise. She didn't know he had been in the military, but looking at him she decided that it made sense. The way he carried himself spoke volumes.

"I guess that's a good enough reason," she smiled at him.

"I'm glad you approve."

Another block of silence settled over the pair. Erin's mind was occupied with the schedule for the remainder of her day; check ban in at the Gentle Giants barn, maybe pop into the office, eat the largest dinner in the cafeteria, take a hot shower, and then be in bed by sunset.

"You look like you're about to pass out," Owen observed, breaking the silence and pulling Erin from her trance.

"I feel like it, too," she answered, turning to look at him with a lazy smile.

"You should get back, go to bed," Owen offered, standing up from his seat to hopefully prompt Erin to leave the raptor compound to go home. He didn't really want her to leave, but she looked exhausted and his concern outweighed his selfishness.

"You're right. I should get back. I still have some stuff to do," Erin replied, sluggishly pulling herself from her seat and stretching her arms above her head.

"No way are you going back to work," Owen observed her as she stretched.

"If there's one think you should know about me, its that I am a raging workaholic," Erin offered. Owen had to agree. From what he had seen of her in action, she was completely committed to her job. She took it seriously, and he could tell that she loved it. It reminded him of when he first started on the island. How in love he was with the excitement and novelty of the dinosaurs and the challenges that came with them.

"Call me if anything happens with the girl gang," Erin instructed, referring to the raptors.

"I would if I had your phone number," Owen retorted. He went to his desk and rifled through the loose papers for a pad of post-its and a pen. Erin took them and wrote her name and number on the top sheet, tearing it off and sticking it to Owen's chest.

"Call or text me any time. Seriously, I don't care if it's 3 am on Christmas Eve," Erin told him. He smirked as he took the post-it and pen from her.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said as he started to write down his own phone number. He pulled the sheet off the pad and mimicked her action, sticking the sheet to her forehead, causing her to laugh. She pulled it off and stuck it into her shirt pocket.

"Don't abuse that," she warned, pointing at her post-it still stuck on his chest.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Owen smirked. "Define abuse, though."

"You can ask me questions or ask me to come out," she answered.

"Oh so I can ask you out?" Owen asked in a very flirtatious tone.

"You can ask me to come out here. For the girl gang," Erin clarified, trying not to smile but failing. She wasn't being completely serious, though. If he did ask her out, she probably wouldn't say no. Actually, she definitely wouldn't say no. The smirk on his face and look in his eye told Erin that he knew she was only joking.

Owen eventually walked Erin out of the office, and stood in the doorway as he watched her walk to her Jeep. She waved to the group of guys standing by a shed, among them were Barry and Eric. They waved back as she climbed into her Jeep and drove away.

After turning the Jeep in and checking in on the barn, Erin finally started walking back to her apartment. On the way she pulled her phone from her bag to check her messages. Among them were unimportant notifications, a text from another doctor, several texts from Emily, and a text from Owen. Erin read through everything, saving Owen's text for last. She smiled the whole way up the elevator after reading it.

 _5:36 PM: The girl gang wants to know- dinner Sunday?_

* * *

"My Type" by Saint Motel


	6. Five

Y'all must think I died. I had about 2/3 of this written AGES ago, and then I started a full time job and before I know it, it's been like, six years. Oopsies.

Let me know what y'all think, and please don't crucify me for the long wait.

* * *

 _6:48 PM: I would love to have dinner with the girl gang_

It took Erin little over an hour to come up with a decent enough response to Owen's text. She took twenty minutes to think about it, drafted a few answers, and when they didn't seem worthy of sending, she would think about it some more. Texting with boys was an art, and Erin was rusty.

Her dating life never really left the college stage, where it wasn't even really dating. In college, you find a guy, start "hanging out", and then eventually you become a couple. Maybe he'll order a pizza or buy drinks at the bar, but it definitely wasn't traditional dating. Through all of high school, undergrad, vet school, and three years in the field, Erin could count all of the dates she had on one hand. In college and vet school, everyone was a poor student swimming in debt. And there weren't any Olive Gardens in the field.

But Erin was almost thirty, and she liked Owen, so she resolved to get her shit together.

Owen's response came ten minutes after Erin's. Erin wondered if he was busy or if he was playing it cool, trying not to seem too eager, like she was.

 _6:59 PM: I haven't taught them table manners yet. Was thinking just you and me._

She liked his sense of humor. Erin spent a lot of time surrounded by serious people. Well-educated, brilliant people, but people who didn't have a lot of fun.

 _7:02 PM: We'll bring them a doggy bag._ Erin shot back. She then tossed her phone onto her bed to go take a long-awaited shower. She was used to quick showers thanks to years at summer camp and sharing too small of a water heater with too many roommates while in school, and then working in the field where showers were a luxury.

After drying off and getting dressed, Erin snatched her phone from atop her bed and read Owen's response and she headed into the kitchenette to pull together some sort of meal.

 _7:07 PM: You still coming tomorrow?_ Erin remembered her promise to come back and check on the raptors. She sent back a quick answer, approximating her visit at around noon or so, depending on how the rest of her rounds went and how the brachiosaruses were doing. After that the texting was done and Erin ate her meal of baby carrots from the bag and a peanut butter and honey sandwich in her bed before falling into a heavy sleep.

The next morning was filled with checking in at the Gentle Giants barn. The mass adverse drug reaction seemed to be all under control. The lab had come up with some sort of concoction to counteract the effects of the first drug. They were keeping the formula a secret, much to every doctor's dismay.

Since she wasn't really needed in the barn, Erin checked out a Jeep form the garage and made her rounds, saving the raptors for last.

Erin's estimated arrival time at the raptor paddock was way off. She spent way longer than she thought she would at each exhibit. None of the handlers reported any different behavior in their animals, especially after intense questioning form Erin. She wanted to see for herself that the animals were OK, and carefully inspected and observed each animal. She didn't leave for the raptor compound until almost 3.

Erin parked her Jeep at the end of the row of all of the other vehicles, like she usually did. The compound was quiet. She could see a few men in the shed, working on who knows what. Another man was working under the hood of a beat up old truck. Apart from that, the place was deserted. Erin assumed everyone else was probably in the office.

Rather than finding anyone, Erin made her way to the staircase leading up to the catwalk overlooking the paddock. The bottom of the stairs had a chain clipped across the handrails in an effort to deter unauthorized usage. Erin was probably technically unauthorized, but she had a job to do, so she maneuvered herself under the chain and headed up the stairs quietly and quickly.

Before fully emerging onto the catwalk, Erin slung her backpack off one shoulder, letting it hang off the other as she searched it for her clipboard and pen. Once it was out, she repositioned the bag and stepped up onto the catwalk, ready to observe and take notes.

The paddock was completely still, except for the soft ocean breeze ruffling the foliage. Erin couldn't see the raptors, but she knew they could probably see her. She waited patiently for pack to get used to her presence and to continue on with their normal behavior.

Standing up on the catwalk put Erin in full sun, and soon she was sweating. The light breeze didn't do much to help. Erin pulled her sunglasses off and rubbed her arm flat against her face, using the sleeve of her shirt to mop up the sweat. She replaced her sunglasses, and heard rustling in the leaves below her.

Erin didn't have to wait much longer to hear chirping and hissing, and soon one of the raptors slowly emerged from the brush. Her head was low, in a predatory stance, eyes on the stranger on the catwalk. Erin knew immediately that it was Blue based on her coloring. Blue was the easiest to pick out of the group.

Blue stalked forward a few more feet, and then the rest of the pack emerged from the camouflage of the enclosure. The pack studied Erin carefully, but quickly lost interest. She wasn't doing anything but standing there.

Charlie and Delta broke into a scuffle that Echo quickly joined. The paddock was suddenly alive with activity and noise as the animals played.

Erin made quick notes without looking down at the paper, not wanting to miss anything the animals did. Writing without looking, and doing it legibly, was a skill Erin taught herself a long time ago, and it came in handy all the time.

Everyone seemed to be acting normal. Or as normal as Erin could tell. She still didn't know much about velociraptor behavior, but nobody seemed to be in pain.

"Hey!" Erin heard someone yell. She hesitated to turn her attention away from the raptors to look back behind her. Someone was standing at the base of the stairs, but she couldn't tell who. They were obviously talking to her, though. "You can't be up there!"

Erin rolled her eyes and ignored the man, turning her attention back to the playing raptors.

"I'm not kidding! Get down from there!" the man continued to yell, catching the attention of the raptors. They ceased all movement and quirked their heads in unison at the sound of the man yelling. Erin took note.

The man unclipped the chain from the stairs and let it fall against the metal of the stairs, making a loud clanging noise, setting the raptors even more on edge. They started chirping towards each other, communicating what Erin assumed was probably a plan of attack.

The man stomped loudly of the steps.

"Authorized personnel only are allowed up here!"

"Would you shut up?" Erin hissed at him as he neared the top of the steps. The man paused in his movement and his face took on an offended expression.

"You need to leave right now," the man said loudly, obviously in a show of authority.

"Are you new? Shut the hell up. You don't yell around wild animals, asshole," Erin scolded the man in a much quieter tone, though her anger was quite clear. The man looked livid and made a move to escort Erin down from the catwalk. She stepped out of his reach and rolled her eyes again.

"Hey!" another male voice called out, catching the attention of both Erin and the man on the catwalk with her. They both turned to see Owen crossing the compound at a quick jog.

"What's going on?" Owen asked, taking the stairs two at a time. The man looked at Owen, relieved to have backup.

"I came out here and noticed this chick up here, and she's resisting," the man explained to Owen.

"Get out of here before I feed you for lunch," Owen sighed, causing Erin to chuckle and the man to blanche.

"What-"

"She's supposed to be here, she's the vet," Owen explained to the confused man, leading him back to the stairs.

"You're a little late," Owen said to Erin once the man was gone.

"Believe it or not, these aren't the only dinosaurs on the island," Erin joked, smiling.

"They're the only ones that matter," Owen replied, settling next to Erin and looking out of the paddock at his pack- his girl gang, as Erin coined.

"Don't be a stage mom," Erin warned jokingly. Owen obviously cared deeply about the pack of raptors in the paddock below.

"Sorry about Greg, he's really into rules," Owen apologized a moment later. Erin shrugged, used to that kind of treatment.

"That's OK, I was breaking a pretty big one. Probably should have told someone I would be up here," Erin said. Going near a paddock alone, with nobody knowing, was potentially dangerous. If something did somehow go wrong, nobody would know until it was way too late.

"Good thing I showed up then," Owen answered, puffing out his chest proudly.

"Yeah, good thing you're doing what you're paid to do," Erin teased.

"Speaking of, how do they look?" Owen changed the subject, turning his attention back to the raptors. They had since lost interest in the yelling man.

"I don't see anything unusual if you don't," Erin replied.

"Good. We've been watching them closely. We checked them this morning, checked their stool, all that glamorous stuff," he explained.

"Lucky ducks," Erin chuckled.

"So, Sunday night," Owen segued, leaning back against the railing.

"Talk of raptor shit reminded you of that? Don't I feel special," Erin laughed, teasing him.

"I know how to charm the ladies," Owen chuckled. Honestly, he really did know how to charm the ladies. Erin could tell he was good at it. "How's 7?"

"Good. Sunday's my day off," she answered. Erin had both Sundays and Mondays off, but she refrained from mentioning the second day, trying not to give Owen any ideas.

"You get some of those?"

"Let me guess, you have days off, but you work through them," Erin said, leaning against the railing next to him.

"What makes you think that?" he asked.

"You're a workaholic, I can spot it a mile away," Erin explained, smiling.

"Takes one to know one, I think," Owen replied. He smiled boyishly and squinted in the harsh sunlight. His shirt had bad pit stains and his facial hair glistened with sweat, and Erin could smell it easily, but sometime a few years ago, that smell stopped being so repulsive. The sweat stains were a mark of hard work. You only got them if you earned them, and Erin admired good work ethics. The smell of animal and sweat wasn't exactly _good_ , but it was comforting to Erin.

"I need to get back and process a bunch of reports," Erin finally said, breaking the silence of just smiling at each other.

Owen walked Erin down the staircase and across the compound towards her Jeep.

"So Sunday at 7. I'll come get ya," Owen confirmed as he opened the door of the Jeep for Erin. She smiled up at him as she took her seat.

"Sunday at 7," Erin repeated with a nod. Owen grinned at her as she closed the door and watched her drive away. Erin was actually pretty excited for a date with Owen. She liked seeing him at work; they always got along well and joked easily. Plus she already knew that they had at least some physical chemistry. She was glad that their drunken first encounter hadn't made things awkward.

The week ended quietly, the most exciting thing being the arrival of a large package from back home. The package contained a whole mess of goodies. Erin's mom had packed bags of her favorite candies, a tin of brownies, and cups of easy mac. She also included nice shampoo and fancy makeup that Erin would never buy for herself. Her mother always tried to push higher quality products on her, but makeup wasn't practical and shampoos with too heavy of a scent tended to attract unwelcome bugs.

Along with the candy and food, there were a few brand new work shirts, and a sack of new socks and underwear. So far the box was just like care packages that Erin got while she was in school. Her mom seemed to think that she was incapable of getting her own socks and candy, but she appreciated the gesture anyway. Getting packages was fun, and it pleased her to know that her family thought of her.

At the bottom of the large box were large masses swaddled in bubble wrap. Erin tore through them, revealing four picture frames from her mom. The larger bundle of bubble wrap contained a stack of three paintings from her little sister.

Erin was thrilled at the new decorations. For so long, her apartment bore empty walls, and she was sick of staring at just the beige paint. The picture frames were decorative wooden frames, hand painted in colorful patterns. Erin placed three on the bookshelf in her living room, and placed her favorite of the four on her dresser in her bedroom. It was a picture of her and her sister, Taylor, aged thirteen and four, sitting atop one of their horses together.

Despite their age difference, Erin and Taylor were close, though they didn't see each other as much as they would have liked. Erin was already in vet school by the time her sister started high school, and now that she was at Jurassic World, Taylor was at college in New York.

Taylor was a talented painter, and had always been skilled and creative. She had sent Erin a colorful landscape painting of the view from the back porch of their family's home. Erin grew up in the country on a large piece of land, their house built on top of a hill overlooking the property. Erin recognized the other two paintings as old school projects of Taylor's. She hung the landscape above the sofa, and the other two above the dining table-turned desk pushed against the far wall of the living room.

The package and impending date had Erin in an amazing mood all through the rest of the weekend. Jurassic World was starting to feel like home. Her last job had been amazing, but sharing a cabin with five other people in the middle of nowhere Africa sometimes felt more like a never-ending summer camp. Erin didn't have her own space, and alone time almost never happened. Even more rare were romantic prospects. Everyone was in everyone's business. But on the island, Erin was making real, normal friendships that weren't born purely out of proximity.

Emily insisted on coming over Sunday morning to help prep a date outfit. Eric had apparently told her that Owen asked Erin out. Not that Erin was keeping that information from Emily.

"You're lucky that you look hot in just jeans and a tee, but you need to put a little more effort into it tonight," Emily explained, sitting on Erin's bed and snacking on a bag of Skittles from Erin's care package. Emily revealed that her mom sent her similar packages, too.

"Like how much effort?" Erin asked, turning from her closet to look at Emily warily.

"Well, what are you guys gonna do?" Emily asked.

"I have no idea. We agreed on dinner, but I have no idea where. For all I know, we'll be trapping, killing, and preparing it ourselves," Erin sighed. She hadn't realized until just then how little information she had to go on. She wasn't worried about it until Emily started asking questions.

"Well, he's not taking you to the cafeteria or Margsville," Emily mused.

"How do you know that?" Erin challenged.

"Because you've obviously been to both of those before and they're horribly lame date locations. If he takes you to either, just start running," Emily explained, causing Erin to laugh and roll her eyes.

"This island only has one nice restaurant. And I've seen them let people wearing cargo shorts and socks with sandals in, so I think I'll be OK in whatever I choose," Erin said, turning her attention back to her closet.

"Yeah, but you always want to look better than necessary," Emily said, leaving the bed to stand next to Erin to help inspect her wardrobe. "Ohhhh," Emily excitedly pulled out a dress.

"Owen's not a dress guy," Erin said, quickly taking the dress out of the running.

"Every guy is a dress guy," Emily retorted, putting the dress back disappointedly.

"I don't want him to think I'm dressing up for him," Erin explained.

"But you are," Emily argued.

"I can't look at these clothes anymore," Erin sighed, stepping away form the closet and flopping down on her bed.

"You can borrow something of mine," Emily offered.

"Thanks, but I'll figure it out. I always worry about what to wear all day and then it just comes to me at the last minute," Erin replied.

"Are you going to put out tonight? Consider that when you do get dressed," Emily offered.

"What does that mean?" Erin laughed.

"It means don't wear granny panties and an old bra," Emily explained, causing Erin to laugh. In her experience, guys didn't really much care about the undergarments; they were coming off anyway. But she did have to admit to the power that good underwear had on confidence.

Emily left soon after, leaving Erin time for lunch, a nap, and a luxuriously long shower. She took her time doing everything, enjoying the lazy Sunday.

Before she knew it, it was 6 o'clock and it was time to get ready. Her hair had already dried naturally, and didn't require much work. She took her time sweeping on a small amount of makeup. Even though Emily warned against wearing just jeans and a tee, Erin did it anyway. It was a basic outfit, but she at least wore her nice, dark wash jeans and one of her better shirts, a flowy, light grey tank. Tan lines be damned.

There was still lots of time to spare, so Erin pulled out her one pair of nice sandals and sat down on her couch, dropped the shoes next to her feet on the floor, and pulling a book onto her lap.

Erin got caught up in reading about herpetology, and when she looked up to check the time on her phone, it was 7:05. Cursing, Erin threw the book against the couch cushions, grabbed her keys and shoes, and ran out the door. She struggled to slip on he sandals in the elevator, and when the door dinged open on the bottom floor, she had only managed to get one completely on. Erin rushed out of the elevator before the doors could close, and there form the bay of elevators she could see Owen sitting in one of the chairs in the small lobby, laughing to himself as he watched Erin's struggle.

Erin sighed, gave up on her left shoe, and walked over to where he was sitting with one bare foot.

"Having trouble?" Owen asked, standing up to greet Erin as she walked up. Erin rolled her eyes as he leaned in to kiss her cheek in greeting.

"I graduated from vet school with honors, but I can't buckle a shoe," Erin laughed.

"Well, good thing we're not going far," Owen said, turning slightly and bending to pick up a bag and a six-pack of beer from the floor.

"Did you bring me a present?" Erin asked excitedly, taking the beer from him.

"I brought the best present of all; food, beer, and me," Owen smirked, stepping around Erin and heading towards the bay of elevators.

"Wait, where are we going?" Erin trotted after him. Owen pressed the 'up' button and turned to her.

"Your place. I'm cooking dinner. You're not a vegetarian are you?" He answered. Erin noticed he was freshly showered; she could smell his soap. And his clothes were also clean; a dark grey button up, worn jeans, and mud-free boots. He cleaned up well, Erin decided. Hell, she liked him even when he was caked in dirt and sweat.

"Uh, no, not anymore," Erin answered him. She had suddenly realized that her apartment was going to be a mess. She didn't think he would be coming over, so she hadn't bothered to clean up. The elevator doors dinged open, they both stepped in, and Erin hit the button for her floor.

"Not anymore?" Owen questioned.

"Yeah, I was a vegetarian for like, three years," Erin answered with a shrug.

"What made you start, and what mada ya quit?" he asked curiously. Erin laughed.

"You're gonna think I'm an idiot," Erin stalled, causing Owen to chuckle.

"I promise I won't," he reassured.

"It was during vet school, and me and some of my friends made this bet. Whoever quit had to by everyone else lunch," Erin explained. "And I'm really competitive."

"So you won?" Owen asked, amused by the story. He had seen Erin's competitive side enough to be entertained.

"By a year," Erin answered proudly.

"What made you quit?" he asked.

"I moved to South Africa. It was too difficult to have any sort of dietary restrictions," Erin answered as the elevator doors dinged open on her floor. She led Owen down the hall towards her apartment.

"Can you wait here for like, five minutes?" Erin asked sheepishly as she stepped up to her door, keys in hand.

"Is it a mess in there?" Owen asked knowingly, smirking down at Erin.

"Just a little bit," Erin shrugged nonchalantly.

"I guarantee that I've seen worse. I used to be a teenage boy," Owen laughed. Erin stood her ground though, and didn't move to unlock the door. Owen shifted the bag from one hand to the other, and reach out and grabbed the keys from Erin's hand. "I got meat in here, so I promise to go straight to the fridge and I won't look so you can shove embarrassing things in a closet," Owen compromised as he unlocked the door. Erin huffed out a 'fine' as she followed him into her apartment. He kept his word and went straight for the kitchen, and Erin immediately rushed to the bathroom where she had piles of towels and dirty clothes on the floor. She scooped up the piles, threw them in the bathtub, and drew the curtain closed. She swept everything that was on the countertop into an open drawer, and slammed it shut as she raced into her bedroom. She quickly made up her bed, shoved shoes and clothes into the floor of her closet, and moved on to the living room. She pushed stacks of books out of the way, and tried to clear off her dining table-turned desk. Owen was working at the island separating the kitchen from the living area, watching Erin pick up with an amused smile.

"I'm not usually this messy," Erin excused herself once she was satisfied that things were clean enough. She at least didn't have any dirty underwear scattered on the floor anymore.

"My place is always a wreck. I'm never there long enough to clean, and when I am there, I'm too tired to do anything," Owen explained.

"Exactly!" Erin agreed as she stepped up to the island to watch Owen work.

"Whatcha makin', chef?" Erin asked as she leaned against the countertop. It was actually fairly obvious what Owen was making, but she wanted to involve herself. Owen had set out a box of spaghetti, a container of chopped lettuce and vegetables, half a baguette, a jar of pasta sauce, a bottle of salad dressing, and a container of raw meatballs.

"Somethin' really fancy," he answered with a wink. "Where do you keep your pans?" he asked, turning to survey the kitchen.

"Bottom cabinets to the left," Erin pointed. Owen pulled out a pot to boil the pasta and a pan to cook the meatballs.

"Did you make these yourself?" Erin asked, pulling the container of meatballs across the countertop to inspect closely.

"Sure did. Mom's recipe. I didn't have the time or patience to make sauce, though, so we'll have to settle for the jar," Owen explained.

"This is already fancier than anything I've ever cooked for myself," Erin said, impressed. She went to grab a large bowl for the salad Owen had already put together. She didn't have any nice salad bowls, and had to settle for a large Tupperware bowl.

"So you're impressed?" Owen asked, smirking triumphantly, causing Erin to laugh.

"I'll wait until I taste it before I pass that judgment," Erin answered as she pulled two bottles of beer from the six-pack. She opened them both and passed one to Owen.

It didn't take long for Owen to boil the pasta and cook the meatballs. Erin didn't own a colander, so draining the pasta from the water proved to be a challenge.

"It's a little soggy, but I think it's still edible," Owen assessed as he scooped portions of the spaghetti onto two plates, topping them off with sauce and meatballs. He set the plates down on the table, and Erin followed with the salad and baguette.

"I'll eat just about anything, and I've eaten way worse," Erin said as she sat down with two fresh beers. Owen picked up the baguette and ripped two chunks off, due to the fact that the only kitchen knife Erin owned was a small paring knife.

"I'll keep that in mind for next time," Owen winked and shoveled a forkful of spaghetti into his mouth.

Erin ate the salad out of politeness, but her main focus was trained on the meatballs Owen had pre-prepared. They were simple, but good, and Erin ate five.

"I'm gonna guess that they don't have spaghetti and meatballs in Africa?" Owen asked, commenting on Erin's enthusiasm towards the food. He didn't have much room to talk, though. He had eaten twice as much as her.

"Actually we had it every once in a while. We would make huge batches for special occasions," Erin answered.

"So what did you do before coming here?" Owen asked through a mouthful of bread. Erin didn't expect him to have the best table manners, and if she was being honest, it was kind of cute.

"I did wildlife rehab at a sanctuary in South Africa for three years," she answered.

"And before that?" he pressed.

"You wanna know my whole life story?" Erin laughed and took a long sip of her beer, finishing off her second bottle.

"Actually, yeah," Owen shrugged. He had to admit that he really didn't know much about her. Barry paid more attention to park goings-on, and knew that he had been recruited, but not much else. Eric was younger, though, and had Emily to go off of, so he had supplied Owen with some information, but not much.

"Well, I'm from Texas," she started.

"What part?"

"Small town outside of Austin, called Marble Falls. My parents raise cattle," Erin explained.

"So you're a country girl," Owen smirked. He'd always had a thing for country girls, considering his background. Erin smirked back. "I bet your parents loved your vegetarianism."

"Oh you have no idea! It drove my dad crazy. Which was honestly half the appeal," Erin laughed.

"A rebel, huh?" Owen chuckled at the idea of a younger Erin pushing limits and testing boundaries. The devilish smile that spread across her face told Owen that she had some good stories. "So, then what?" he asked, prodding her back along in the conversation.

"Oh, right, life story. I did undergrad at UT, then UC Davis for vet school. Then Africa, now here," Erin summarized, ending with a shrug.

"You always wanna be a vet?" Owen asked as he stood up, taking the empty dishes with him.

"Pretty much. We had horses and stuff, too, so we always had vets coming over, and I was basically their shadow until I was old enough for summer jobs and worked as their assistant," Erin finished clearing the table and followed Owen into the kitchen.

"That's pretty cool, knowing what you want to do that young," he praised. He then turned on the sink and started washing the dishes. Erin stepped up next to him to help, handing him dirty dishes. They fell into an easy conversation about how neither one of them were very good at domesticity. With Erin standing right next to him, Owen became aware of Erin's height. He'd noticed a while ago that she was decently tall, but standing at the sink shoulder to shoulder, he realized that she was probably only a few good inches shorter than him. Owen himself was a good height, and he appreciated tall girls.

The dishes didn't take long, and they soon found themselves on the couch, opening up the last two beers Owen had brought.

Erin had been concerned that they wouldn't have much to talk about, but the conversation flowed well.

"So, uh, was it weird for you to keep running into the guy you publicly made out with?" Owen finally asked. Every time they had seen each other since their first meeting, neither had brought that up.

"I'd be lying if I said it's never happened before," Erin laughed.

"So you kiss a lot of strangers in bars?" Owen laughed along with her in a teasing tone. He really didn't care, and he actually thought it was pretty funny.

"I wouldn't say a lot, but it's happened. I wholeheartedly subscribed to the work hard, play hard philosophy in school," she explained. Owen could relate.

"That's a good philosophy," he agreed as his eyes roamed the room. It was sparsely decorated, save for a couple of cool paintings hung crookedly on the walls. His eyes traveled back to her.

Ever since that first game of pool, Owen thought Erin was pretty. Not in a classic beauty, cover girl, Hollywood glamor kind of way, but naturally pretty. She was comfortable letting her hair air dry in the jungle humidity and he wasn't super sure if she was wearing makeup or not. She was tall and lean; she looked capable. If something went wrong, or if something needed to be taken care of, she would do it herself. The best word Owen could come up with was solid. Erin seemed solid.

As they talked, Owen continued his study. She had a thin, light scar above her right eyebrow, and another at the base of her neck. He imagined she probably had a lot of scars; he definitely had his fair share. It came with their lines of work.

"Cool tan lines," Owen chuckled as he reached up to run his thumb along a band of slightly tanned skin on Erin's bicep. He thought about pulling his hand away once he realized what he was doing, but changed his mind and left it there. He wanted to see what would happen.

"I know right?" Erin laughed as she held both arms out, ignoring Owen's hand. "You should see my sock tan lines." She kicked up her bare feet to emphasize her point.

"Hey, do you want some candy?" Erin asked suddenly, turning to Owen.

"Uh, I don't know. What kind of candy?" he answered her question with another question. She slapped his thigh lightly, then pressed her hand onto his knee to use as leverage as she stood from the couch. She waved for him to follow her as she moved into the bedroom.

Owen looked around the room as discreetly as he could manage as she pulled a large box from the floor and lifted it onto the bed. She stuck her hand into the box and pulled out a handful of goodies as an offering.

"Present from Santa?" Owen joked as he took an opened package of Twizzlers from Erin's hand.

"My mom is obsessed with care packages now that both me and my sister are out of the house. The funny thing is that she never let us have this crap at home," Erin explained as she took a Twizzler from Owen's hand and bit off the end.

"This your sister?" Owen asked as he sat on the edge of Erin's bed to look at a framed photo on the bedside table.

"Yep. Me and Taylor," Erin answered, sitting down next to Owen.

Erin and Owen finished their Twizzlers in silence, both wondering what to do next. It was late enough for Owen to be a gentleman and call it a night. He did have work in the morning, after all.

"So, you wanna watch a movie or something?" Erin asked, turning to grab another Twizzler.

"OK, but nothing girly," Owen agreed, causing Erin to scoff.

"I only own four movies, and only one of them has Reese Witherspoon in it, so your odds are good," Erin joked as she stood up, grabbed more candy from the box, and led the way back out to the living room.

"Well then, surprise me," Owen conceded as he adjusted the lighting in the room and Erin pulled a case from her bookshelf.

"Do you like scary movies?" she asked with a smirk. Owen sat down on the couch, propped his feet up on the coffee table, and spread his arms across the back of the couch.

"Love 'em," he answered. Erin smiled, grabbed the TV remote, and sat down next to Owen. Once the movie started, she settled against the back of the couch and Owen's side, propping her feet up on the coffee table next to his. Owen dropped his arm from the back of the couch to rest across her shoulders, which she leaned her head against. Erin didn't seem shy to Owen at all, as she made herself comfortable against him.

Work be damned, Owen could afford a late night with Erin.

* * *

"RUN" by San Cisco


End file.
